I didn’t want to do television: Sidhant Gupta

New Delhi: Jay Khanna healed all my ‘pain’ and ‘struggle’, said Sidhant Gupta, the breakout star of ‘Jubilee’, recalling his days of trying and not quite making it in the film industry, an arc that somewhat also mirrors the journey of his reel life character.

Having dipped his toe into the modelling and television industry before, Jammu-born Gupta, who made his debut with the little-known film ‘Tutiya Dil’ back in 2012, said just a few years ago ‘nothing was going’ his way.

“I wasn’t happy. I didn’t want to do television. I wanted to do films and was not getting what I needed. Did cameos in some films that didn’t work and I was in the middle of nowhere. That was the worst phase of my life,” Gupta told the top news agency.

He added, “I feel this character sort of healed my struggles and pain. I could share all of that through Jay Khanna’s journey.”

Director Vikramaditya Motwane’s offer for him to play Jay Khanna, a refugee-turned-aspiring filmmaker, in ‘Jubilee’, came as a breath of fresh air, Gupta said. ‘Jubilee’, a 10-episode series on the early days of Hindi cinema, premiered on ‘Prime Video’ in April.

“I feel it is the most incredibly written character that I have ever read. I was literally in disbelief. I was like how it has come to me because I don’t think anyone can say no to something like this,” he recalled.

Gupta has been praised for his portrayal of Jay Khanna, initially a happy-go-lucky theatre artist who hardens after the Partition but is driven enough to carve a space for himself in the industry. Fans, critics and filmmakers have called him a new star on the horizon. Even celebrated director-producer Karan Johar called Gupta’s performance the ‘pièce de résistance’ of the show.

Gupta said he gave ‘everything’ he had to portray the character in ‘Jubilee’.

“ ‘Jubilee’ has my heart. The most amazing feeling is to just understand that everything takes a back seat when there is one thing which is from the heart.”