Sharib Hashmi on success of The Family Man: Was craving for recognition

As somebody who dreamt of becoming a quintessential hero as a child The Family Man star Sharib Hashmis journey in the film industry has been nothing short of a reallife success story full of ups and downsHashmi is currently enjoying the fruits of his hard work with the overwhelming response towards the second season of The Family Man The 45yearold actor who plays the happygolucky intelligence officer JK Talpade on the Amazon Prime Video series said he is inundated with congratulatory calls messages from the audience as well as industry peers since the June 4 premiere of season twoldquoThe first season had set a benchmark for itself and it was an advantage for all of us Personally for season one I received a lot of love but this time the reaction has been crazy This is happening for the first time in my career I am on cloud nine Things are out of control I didnrsquot expect it to surpass my expectations and I am feeling very emotional about it For years I was craving for recognition and I am glad I got it from JKrdquo Hashmi told PTI in an interviewBut it has been a long road for the actorBorn in Mumbai to eminent film journalist ZA Johar Hashmi says growing up he attended a lot of Bollywood parties with his father from where began his fascination with the world of moviesAlso Read Sharib Hashmi Didnrsquot reshoot any part of The Family Man 2In my childhood I would often say I want to become a hero I didnt understand acting and all I would go to the parties and mahurat it was all lavish then I was fascinated by the world and I wanted to be part of it he addedHis desire to join films was subdued by his belief that he was not tall enough to become a hero but his love for entertainment led him to join television as a writer Hashmi said When I grew up I was just 54 feet and felt that I couldnrsquot become a hero so I thought I dont want to become anyone else But I wanted to do something in this line so I worked as an assistant director and started writing nonfiction shows for MTV and Channel VHashmis initial acting gig was on the popular prank show MTV Bakra and he followed it up with a role of a slumdweller in filmmaker Danny Boyles Oscarwinning movie Slumdog Millionaire The actor said he decided to audition for the Indiaset Hollywood feature on the suggestion of his friendAlso Read Know The Family Man 2 characters From Priyamani to Sharad KelkarI was auditioned for the role by Danny Boyle himself It is a big opportunity for meAlong with Slumdog Millionaire the year 2008 also marked the release of Hashmis Hindi movie HaalEDil after which he decided to pursue acting full time He quit his job and started auditioning actively but nothing worked outThere have been a lot of ups and downs in my career I made a decision about taking up acting and faced daily rejections I was in a very bad state financially and finished all my savingsThe financial crunch forced Hashmi to return as a writer to television but soon he got the offer to work in Yash Chopras 2012 romance drama Jab Tak Hai Jaan and followed it up with a lead role in Nitin Kakkars Filmistaan that also released the same year Even though his performance was appreciated in both the projects the actor didnt get the recognition he craved for till the premiere of The Family Man in 2019ldquoWhen the offer for lsquoThe Family Manrsquo came I was hoping it would work as the project was bigrdquoAlso Read 5 reasons why The Family Man is the best Indian espionage web seriesHis spontaneity as a performer and his chemistry with the lead star of the series Manoj Bajpayee attracted the audiences and soon his character JK became a fan favourite making Hashmi a household nameThe season one of the espionage actionthriller series centred on Bajpayees Srikant Tiwari as he juggled between his duality of being a middle class family man and a worldclass spy with JK always there by his side In the latest sophomore season JK continues to support Srikant as they fight a new powerful and brutal adversary named Raaji essayed by South star Samantha AkkineniHashmi believes the reason for JKs immense popularity is his unconditional love for his best friend Srikant ldquoEveryone wants a best friend in their life and they see that best friend in JK I feel thatrsquos the biggest connection The unconditional love between JK and Srikant is something people are loving he said adding that his bonhomie with Bajpayee keeps growing both on and offscreenPost the success of the first season of The Family Man Hashmi went on to star in another two acclaimed series ldquoAsurrdquo and ldquoScam 1992 The Harshad Mehta Storyrdquo Hashmi said he has read a few scripts but is in no hurry to sign any new projectsI donrsquot want to put myself into any category that I want to be the main lead or play the most important role Length of the role doesnrsquot matter what I look at it is how pivotal it is to the story and who is the team on board he saidAlso Read Sharib Hashmi I dont believe I have ever been typecastThe Family Man season two also features Priyamani Seema Biswas Darshan Kumar Sharad Kelkar Sunny Hinduja Shreya Dhanwantary Shahab Ali Vedant Sinha Mahek Thakur and Ravindra Vijay among othersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever