Sharad Kapoor: Success is a big high!

Unlike his onscreen image, Sharad Kapoor is charming and expressive, content with the way his career is shaping up; "I am aware of how rare it is for people to be able to do precisely what they want to do, so I am always grateful to God".

Despite more than his fair share of setbacks, Sharad has carved a niche for himself in Bollywood. "I have always wanted to act in films for as long as I can remember. It wasn't for the glamour that is synonymous with Bollywood. Since childhood, I had rich friends. They drove around in foreign cars, worked out at health clubs, and went clubbing every weekend - I was always the hanger-on. Subconsciously, I have always aspired to be like them one day... I too wanted money and all the trappings that come it," reveals the actor.

"My friends always told me that I had the height and the looks to make it in films. So one day I just shifted bag and baggage to Mumbai. I thought it was going to be easy - and I was wrong as hell! I don't know what it was like for everybody else, but for me it was a very painful process. 'Struggle' is the word I had to confront each morning. I didn't have to struggle physically but mentally there was a lot of strain on me. I was in a new city; my parents and friends were not there to support me. I had to go out alone - and struggle. It is not easy setting out each morning to meet filmmakers and coordinators - only to face rejection. I've shed a lot of tears. Each time I was rejected, I felt like a cast off; but I did not lose hope."

"I started my career as the assistant director of LAKSHMAN REKHA and ANGAAR. Mahesh Bhatt saw me one day and called me over. He said I was perfect for a role in his forthcoming film (DASTAK) co-starring the then-reigning Miss Universe Sushmita Sen! What more could I ask for? It is all destinies. I spent so many years going door-to-door to meet filmmakers and here, such a prestigious film literally fell in my lap!"

Post-DASTAK, he began making up for lost time, as films came in droves. JOSH co-starring Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai was his first box-office success and since then there is no looking back. Is it easy to get swayed by sudden success, I ask him? "Yes it is, and God knows I could have easily disappeared into the vicious circle of drink, women and adulation. Success is a big high. It can delude you into feeling it will always be your bedfellow but suddenly you wake up and the years have gone by. I was determined that I would not allow success to sway me. God knows I have worked hard for it."