Actor Jitin Gulati, who rose to fame MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Made a major career gamble when he left the security of a well-paying job at a foreign bank to pursue acting. Years later, the actor has several projects in the pipeline, including Mahakali With Akshay Khanna and military With Prabhas.
In an exclusive chat with NDTV, Jitin spoke about his journey from working as an associate vice president in a foreign bank to acting full-time. He also recalled earning just Rs 3,500 for his first television commercial and spoke candidly about the struggles and rejections he faced after choosing a career in showbiz.
Jitin Gulati on choosing roles for money
Asked if he would ever accept a project he didn’t like especially because it paid well, Jitin said money can never be the main factor when it comes to acting.
He said, “As much as I want to work for money and make it a priority, it doesn’t work with me, I know. After working here for so long, I don’t think I can work for money. I can do other things for money. I was a banker before, so I did a lot of other consulting work for money. I can advertise for money and do a lot of events for money, but when I can do a lot for money. It’s acting and camera work. Let’s face it, if my heart isn’t in it, it’s going to show on camera, so it’s better not to do it for the money.”
“Of course, you want money for the effort you put in, the experience you have. I won’t accept less money for the kind of experience I bring or the kind of work involved in the film. But money will definitely not be the first factor,” he added.
Acting from a foreign bank
Jitin said that despite how far he’s come, he never wants to reach a point where he feels like he’s accomplished everything he set out to achieve. More importantly for him, he took a chance on himself when he was 29 and walked away from a stable banking career to pursue his passion.
“If I think I’m done, what’s left for me to do? I hope I never feel like I’ve accomplished anything. I’m glad I took a chance on my life, and I don’t regret it at all. 29.”
He added, “I quit my bank job. I had been working in a foreign bank for about nine years, and I quit to pursue acting. I was training to be an actor while I was in the bank, but I came to Bombay with my job, and I quit that job, and I started modeling, and then started acting full-time.”
The transition, however, was far from smooth. Jitin describes his career as a slow and sometimes frustrating journey, though one in which he believes he has steadily progressed.
“Since then, I think it’s been a bumpy ride. It’s been a very sobering career. I’ve had good days, and I’ve had bad days, but the good thing is that the only constant thing that’s happened in my career, which I’m very happy about, is that I’ve always moved forward.
He added, “It’s been a very slow journey for me and it’s been very frustrating at times, but like I said, the good thing is that I’ve moved on. And I’m far from what I want to do and the kind of parts I want to do, but I always feel like I’m making progress and I’m moving towards something bigger, and I think that’s a great feeling.”
He earned Rs 3,500 for his first ad
Before entering the entertainment industry full-time, Jitin rose to the position of Associate Vice President at a foreign bank. Although he chose not to disclose his salary at the time, he admitted that he was earning well.
“When I resigned from the bank I was an associate vice president, so you can imagine when you’re an AVP at a bank you get paid mostly. It was great.”
Meanwhile, his first pay check from a television commercial was a stark contrast to his banking career. Jitin revealed that he received Rs 3,500 for the commercial. To make the experience even more memorable, only his shoulder made it into the ad.
Recalling her first shoot, she said, “The first job I got, the first TV commercial I got, where I was standing behind the main lead girl, only my shoulder was visible in the ad, although I thought I was the main star that day because it was my first shoot. But only my shoulder was visible in that ad. I was paid Rs 3,500 for it.”
Jitin said that he was still working in a bank when he shot the ad. Despite having theater experience and attending several auditions, she had never been on a professional set before.
“For my first ad. The first time, that’s the first day I entered a set, because I worked in theater, but I was never on set. I did a lot of auditions, but I was never on set. I never worked as an AD or anything. When I did my first ad, I was working in a bank.”
He admitted that he initially believed he had an important role in the commercial as he auditioned with the dialogues.
“So it was a very special day for me, but yeah, I thought I had a good part in the ad because they auditioned me with the dialogue and everything, but I ended up standing behind the main lead girl and I really felt like I was going to be a star that day, but only my shoulder was showing.”
Far from blaming the makers, Jitin laughed about his own lack of awareness at the time.
“It wasn’t their fault. It was in my head. I thought, ‘Ah, I have a big part.’ It was not their fault. I mean on the set I found out that there were four or five people standing behind the main lead girl, and I should have checked first. And I, honestly, Kusumika, I had no idea about these things, you know.
The experience eventually taught him to ask the right questions when auditioning for projects.
“Then, when I started auditioning, I found out that, well, I should also see if they’re using me as an actor in the background or as someone who has lines and stuff. And then, that’s how I learned. But yeah, I was very happy that day, by the way. I mean, that day was the happiest day for me because I was in the finals at 30. Ad, just my shoulder showing, and working perfectly. was.”
How Jitin Gulati dealt with rejection
Jitin’s journey also includes years of auditions, rejections and uncertainty. For him, surviving those ups and downs comes down to knowing why he chose acting in the first place.
“I think the reason why I got into the industry was very clear in my mind. I wasn’t chasing fame, or I wasn’t chasing some kind of idea that my career should be this way, or that people should see me this way. The intention was very clear. I’ve always been on stage since I was a child, and I knew that was what brought me the most joy.”
Interestingly, he does not look back on his banking career with resentment. He said he was happy with his job and colleagues, but always felt like he belonged somewhere else.
“A lot of times in your life you feel like you belong here, but you should be somewhere else. My bank job was great. I mean I could have stayed there for eight or nine years because I was happy there, you know, and the people I was working with were nice. But I always felt like I should be, I should be somewhere else. I never felt at peace, you know?”
It was being on set or in front of the camera that finally gave him a sense of fulfillment.
“And you feel, you know, when you’re in the wrong place for yourself, you feel like you should be somewhere else. A set or a place in front of the camera is where I feel happiest, where I feel healthy. I think once you have that feeling, then you know you’re here for the right reason.
‘My family stood by me through thick and thin’
Jitin also credits her family for giving her the support she needed to continue acting through the tough times.
“Of course, it’s a long process, and, you know, our careers have become, like, 18 for me now, 18 for me. In this situation, I think the support of your loved ones is very, very important. Your family needs to stand by you through thick and thin, and I’m very lucky in that respect.”
He said that coming from a middle-class family made his decision to leave a lucrative banking career all the more important.
“You know, my parents and my sisters have been a total support to me from the beginning, ever since I told them I’m quitting my bank job and I’m going to do it. It’s very difficult because I come from a middle-class family. My father was in the Navy, my mother was a teacher, both now retired, and I was earning well in a foreign bank.”
He added, his family never asked him to give up acting, even during tough times.
“That kind of support, and in 18 years I’ve never seen them tell me to do anything else. You know, that’s another big thing. People around you can tell you to reconsider your decisions, but I’ve never been told that, because I was also very clear that there’s nothing else I want to do. I’ll do more with it, but I’ll never give it up, touch wood.”
‘You need unwavering, unwavering faith’
According to Jitin, rejection is inevitable for actors. What keeps him going is a deep attachment to the craft, which draws him back again and again even after professional heartbreak.
“I think that support is so important. And I believe that if you, I mean, you know, what is love? How do we love something? If you love something, you keep coming back to it, right? Right? You can’t let it go.”
He added, “So, of course, there’s rejection, there’s heartbreak, and a lot of us, I mean, because you’re an actor and you audition a lot, there’s heartbreak every day. But the heartbreak lasts for two or three days, maybe a week, and then you see a great movie from the ’90s that you grew up on and you thought, and you want to like it, and you’re back.”
For Jitin, the love for acting must be strong enough to withstand professional disappointment.
“So I think love goes on, you know, letting you go on, and that’s very important, I feel. You have to be, and when I say love, not the love that’s, you know, a mother-to-child love, that never stops, no matter what happens, not a love that can be broken.”
“A love can be a romantic love, a mother’s love or a father’s love, but a love that sustains everything, that nothing really gets in the way of it. If you have that kind of love for something, and you need it in our career, you need it. You can’t just build it on something that’s very, very breakable. You need unbreakable, unbreakable faith,” so you work for this unbreakable faith and unbreakable faith. can do Jitin
Also read: “What do you feel about it Dhurandhar?: Jitin Gulati remembers Mahakali The question of co-star Akshay Khanna’s teaser