Exclusive Interview with Actor Sahil Vaid

What was your inspiration behind taking acting as a career option? Who is your role model?

When I did my first school play, I was very nervous to go on stage, the year was 1997, but once I came back after my scene I couldn’t contain my happiness, I did not understand then why I was so happy but now I do, I just had to get back on stage again, I would wait for plays to happen every year and I could never let acting go since then. So my inspiration to become an actor came from my first experience as an actor on stage it was the best things that ever happened to me

What has been your most memorable work project?

I have had a lot of beautiful memories from all my projects but one particular memory that made me believe that life is headed in the correct direction was when I broke my arm 15 minutes before a show, Mr. Naseeruddin Shah was the director of that play “GadhaaurGaddha” the doctor said I would require immediate surgery, I chose to take a pain killer and finish 6 shows in the course of 2days, that day I realised if I had backed out of that show, the show would have to be cancelled and I could never forgive myself if because of me a show did not happen. I will never forget that day, I myself was amazed at the level of love I had for my craft.

How do you keep the work-life balance?

I don’t have to balance my work life with anything else, I joke with friends all the time and say theatre is my personal life and films are my professional life, and I have always had supportive friends and family who always forgive me for missing their weddings and functions. I believe if I have to work hard towards keeping balance, I am doing something wrong, I just do what I love the most and everything else just falls into place, yes I have lost friends, girlfriends and associates because of this unidirectional dedication for acting but I do not regret losing them, I will however regret if I lose acting because of personal affairs, and that day will probably be the end of my career, I hope it never comes

What are your hobbies and interests?

I have a bunch of hobbies, as an actor one gets a lot of time to work on oneself, I have spent time learning pottery, carpentry, I’ve learnt how to repair and build motorcycles, I play music instruments, started with a guitar in college and now I make it a point to pick up one new instrument every year, I have belief in the word application, so whatever I learn I put it into practice, it’s the most accomplishing experience to figure something out and build something. Yes I am a trained robotics engineer out of choice too, and I built a projector dowser out of necessity which I use for one of my plays, it works via an app on my phone

What are you looking forward to in your career as an actor?

I am looking forward to be surprised by the opportunities people give me in the future, I want them to give me challenges which I see as exciting projects and deal with them with the excitement of a school boy preparing for an exciting science fair. I love my work and I see it like an awesome video game where every character and role is another level of difficulty, how would you feel if you had to play the same level on your favourite game? Bored rite? That’s how I see opportunities, they have to be next level, they have to be challenging, I don’t know if I will succeed or fail as an actor, but I want to finish this game that I have started, the future is uncertain so no point contemplating about it, but one can keep wishing, I mean that’s how I’ve reached this far, by always wishing fir more and working towards training myself constantly for what may come. I do not want to fail as a performer, don’t really care for any other kind of success.