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Meet The Scene Stealers: Sahil Vaid

Sneha Menon Desai

Sahil Vaid, who was last seen in Badrinath Ki Dulhania, has found himself a mention in nearly every one of the film's reviews for his performance as Somdev, the affable sidekick to Varun Dhawan's Badrinath. While one would assume that this would mean a barrage of script offers and calls from the film fraternity, the actor reveals in the following interview that this in fact is far from the truth: 

'I know how short lived fame can be' 

For a couple of months after your performance in a film has been well received, everyone is cheering for you. I have friends calling and saying, 'Wow Sahil! You're the man!' But I know that this phase is temporary and it's going to go away unless I get up and start doing something amazing right away. 

I have to depend on the great writers who have to write something path-breaking that I can dig my teeth into as an actor. 

'The truth is the offers are not pouring in after Badrinath…' 

I don't know why. The industry professionals have probably not seen the film yet. There have been a couple of phone calls about projects that are entirely in the Poplu and Somdev (his characters in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Badrinath Ki Dulhania respectively) space. 

While I do want to help these small production houses by featuring in their films, I also know that I can't afford to fail right now and I have to constantly prove myself. 

'What do I do next? It's a little scary' 

It's a new kind of difficulty that I have seen since the film's release. There has been so much love and appreciation for my performance. But what do I do now? When I wasn't as famous I would do various small acting gigs and dubbing assignments to make an extra buck. But now that the work has narrowed down, I'm wondering where are those scripts? It is a little scary. 

'I am trying to lose weight so that I can play different kind of roles' 

The hardest scenes often turn out to be the best scenes of the film. My toughest scene in Badrinath… was the beach scene. Varun and I had to actually hold our breath while the other person finished his lines. While we had rehearsed the scene a couple of times in our rooms, we had never rehearsed under water. 

What we had not anticipated was that we wouldn't be able to hear each other's cues under water! The dialogue where I say 'paani ki neeche sorry sunai detha hai kya' is actually not in the script! That goes to show the chemistry and timing that Varun and I shared. 

'At one point I ran out of money to survive in Mumbai'

Someone told me I had a great voice and that I should consider a career as a voice-over artist. I have dubbed for Hollywood actors like Tom Cruise, Bradley Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal. More recently, I dubbed for the Hindi voice of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. I would love to play the character of the Beast some day. I know being an Indian guy that is a bit of an off story but I shall dream big nonetheless! 

'One and a half years after Humpty released I discovered I have a fan club' 

The fan club then had 20-something followers. Today of course it has more and I know it's a cheap thrill but the truth is that it feels so good! When I was shooting with Varun I told him, 'Do you know I have a fan club now?' he laughed and said he was aware. 

The other day, I met a young boy at a bakery who had absolutely no idea who I was. I struck up a conversation with him because it was fun. He began telling me he is an actor etc. and while we were talking more than five people have come up to me and asked for pictures and autographs. The poor guy got rather uncomfortable and apologized saying he hadn't seen the film yet. 

'Nepotism exists is in every industry' 

My father had a small tool shop. If I had joined him in the business, people would have said, 'Ha! Nepotism. Isne toh apne papa ki business join kar di.' So as far as nepotism is concerned, I don't see what the harm is in a parent trying to help his child to get ahead in life. 

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