I am from a small town in western Uttar Pradesh called Budhana. After completing my graduation there, I moved to Delhi and joined a theatre group called Sakshi. Subsequently, I joined the National School of Drama where I was hugely inspired by one of my directors, Valentin Teplyakov, who directed me in a play called Ivanov (based on Anton Chekhov’s novel of the same name). Working in theatre and with stalwarts like Manoj Bajpai and Saurabh Shukla gave me the confidence to act in films.

I moved to Mumbai to fulfil my dreams and struggled a lot during my initial days doing bit roles in films like Sarfarosh (1999), The Bypass (2003) and Munnabhai MBBS (2003). But fortunately, director Anurag Kashyap noticed me and offered me a meaty role in Black Friday (2004). I bagged the important role of Asgar Mukadam and earned a lot of praise for it as well. Soon I started getting better offers.

I owe my success to Kashyap who is my mentor as Black Friday completely turned my life around. I enjoy working with him as he gives me complete freedom to portray a particular character. I didn’t even hesitate to do a small role in his film Dev D (2009). After Black Friday, I developed my acting skills in films like New York (2009), Firaaq (2009) and Peepli Live (2010).

Currently, I am shooting for Reema Kagti’s untitled action film with Aamir Khan. I am looking forward to Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, Mangesh Hadawale’s Dekh Circus and Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely, which are all in the post-production stage.

(As told to Yashodeep Sengupta)