New Delhi: ‘Fighter’ actor Akshay Oberoi will be next seen in a pivotal role in Shashank Khaitan’s Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumar opposite Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor. “I am so excited. Dharma is on everyone’s wish list. Shashank Khaitan is a great director. These are the films everyone enjoys. I have been hungry to be seen and be in commercial cinema. As an artist you want everyone to see your work.  And the only way you realise is that maybe you are getting better when by merit and not because of privilege or influence,  you get cast in movies like these. It feels awesome, merit-based casting is the biggest validation”. 

The actor who has nearly 40 film and drama credits to his name reveals, that the biggest revelation for him during his period of struggle was that he had tremendous patience. “I love acting so much so all the punches I took and the rejections I faced daily. I have picked myself up and gone out full throttle into the battlefield, and that’s how I have survived. Had my first film worked and I had tasted instant, I would have been a different person, with a different set of priorities. I would have craved more money, called journalists to write about me, and invested in a huge fandom. But, no I feel today I have earned my place and am proud of it.

However, Akshay Oberoi confesses his Fighter co-star Hrithik Roshan left a deep impact on him. “Hrithik has inspired me. I grew up in New Jersey and was a teenager when I watched Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. That was the day I resolved to become an actor. I felt represented by him and found a connection. The universe manifested my desire and my big mainstream film ended up being with him. One hardly gets to meet their idols, and here I am.”

He says the next on his wish list is to manifest another blockbuster film like Fighter.

Akshay will be next seen in the series Illegal 3. So what’s the one thing in Bollywood that should be made illegal? “Airport Looks, they should be banned. I don’t understand that game at all, he says with a laugh.

Akshay who has also put the good into playing bad in shows such as The Broken News, is candid when he confesses that like any human, he too has his share of insecurities and jealousy. “I don’t have negative thoughts as such because am very mindful about what I think. But, yes there are moments I get jealous when I see some actor being praised and celebrated or for that matter an actress who has suddenly blown up. Though I tell myself there is nothing to do with me, but  are  all competitive and it’s a charge for me to do better.”