Dev Kantawala is 11 years old and already a veteran in the twin worlds of acting and modelling. He has starred in popular soaps like Sahara One’s Kituu Sab Janti Hai, Sony’s Kehna Hai Kuch Mujhko and Zee’s Kabhi Aye Na Judai. The high point of his career was being nominated for the ITA 2005 Best Child Actor award for his role in Paowan on Hungama TV.

Besides doing serials, Dev has also worked in about 150 ads over the last few years. It was ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar who spotted him and decided that his face was perfect for the Calcium Sandoz ad he was doing. From that point, there has been no looking back for Dev. He has starred in high-profile ads for brands like Complan, Bournvita, Calcium Sandoz, Parle G Genius, Ujala Washing Powder and Asian Paints.

He made his big screen debut with Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara where he played Divya Dutta’s brother. His next film called Bhoot Uncle will see him working alongside Jackie Shroff. He has also signed another film called Fool and Final produced by Firoz Nadiadwala. Studying in class five at St Joseph’s High School Mumbai, Dev doesn’t neglect his studies and his teachers have always supported his out-of-classroom career. His other interests include swimming and horse-riding.

The inspiration behind this child actor is his father, Vivek Kantawala, who’s an auto consultant. Vivek is also a part-time actor and five years ago played a negative character called Jimmy in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi on Star Plus. He also dabbles in theatre and is a member of the Yatri group in Mumbai. Besides acting, Vivek is also a model co-ordinator and owns a company called Getafix Communications.

DEV:

My father is everything to me. I simply cannot live without his support. Of course, my mother is also my greatest friend and I depend on her a lot. My father has always encouraged me to take up good work. He’s the one who actually monitors my work and decides what is good for me. Since he’s an actor, he can give me acting tips whenever I go wrong.

There’s nothing that I keep from my father as he’s my pillar of strength. I’m just a kid starting out in the world of glamour. Therefore, I always need my parents’ encouragement and advice so that I stay grounded. He takes great care of me and ensures that I also get time to play. He also accompanies me to outdoor locations so that I don’t lose confidence while doing a shot.

More than a father, he’s actually my best friend. But I must admit that he scolds me a lot when I am naughty. The most important quality of my father is that he’s a very down-to-earth person and honest in his dealings. He always tells me to be fair to others and not to be rude. He’s also very particular about my education and insists that I concentrate on my studies when I have no work. He ensures that I utilise my time to the fullest ? even when I am shooting.

My father has allowed me to play games on my computer. And most of the time when I have nothing to do, you will find me playing computer games. My other passion is cricket and I often play this game with my father. We also like to watch movies together like King Kong. Working at a stretch exhausts me a lot and so my father takes me for family picnics or to the zoo. Unlike most other fathers, he’s a bit chilled out though sometimes he can get quite hyper because of me.

I realise how difficult it is for him to be with me all the time as I insist that he has to be with me when I am shooting. When he can’t be with me, he requests my mom to accompany me on shoots. I am too young to have preferences of my own. But if I pursue this line of work when I grow up, I would definitely like to work together with my father in a film.

VIVEK:

Even when Dev was a baby his face used to light up instantly when he heard any kind of music. Later when he grew up, I noticed he had tremendous acting potential. He started out as a child artiste doing commercials and then took up acting as a hobby. But thanks to his acting talent, producers have started making a beeline for him.

Acting is his passion but that doesn’t mean Dev neglects his studies. He’s good at his studies and I can’t remember a single teacher complaining about him. But I must point out that his school has cooperated with us immensely right from the very beginning of his acting career.

I remember when he was doing the ad for Ujala Washing Powder in Ooty a year back, he had his school exams going on at the time. His exam was sharp at 9.30am. On that very day, Dev took a flight from Coimbatore at seven in the morning and reached Mumbai at nine thirty. We were sure that the principal would not allow him to appear for his exam. But he granted Dev one hour’s grace time and finally he was able to sit for his exam.

Being in the acting profession myself, I hardly get the time to accompany Dev to shoots. But thanks to his mother I don’t have to worry about that. She too takes good care of him. Often film shoots carry on till late at night, but Dev never complains. For the shooting of his current film, Bhoot Uncle he started playing cricket with the spot boys while Jackie Shroff was getting ready for the shot.

Although Dev attracts attention wherever he goes, he is very simple boy and behaves like any other normal child. I always tell him to take his success lightly and not to boast too much. At present he’s too young to understand the nitty-gritty of acting and he doesn’t even know how much he gets from this profession.

I always tell him that he gets grades for acting and not money. I feel that if a child knows how much he gets, he’ll get carried away by it. Being a father, I always have to make sure that my son grows up to be a balanced individual, who won’t get swayed by the glamour around him.

I understand that he has to work twice as much as a normal child because he has both his studies and acting going on at the same time. But I always remind him of the value of education. He’s also very intelligent and is quick to memorise his lines. What I don’t like in him is that sometimes he becomes very restless. All in all, it’s a nice feeling to see your son gaining the popularity he set out to achieve and yet staying firmly grounded to his roots.

Photograph by Gajanan Dudhalkar