Meet Adarsh Gourav, Bollywood's White Tiger Adarsh Gourav made his debut aged 14 with Karan Johar's 2010 film 'My Name is Khan', where he played a young Shah Rukh Khan.

Adarsh Gourav made his debut aged 14 with Karan Johar's 2010 film 'My Name is Khan', where he played a young Shah Rukh Khan. However, the role that cemented his position in everyone's memories was that of Balram Halwai in the Netflix production, The White Tiger (2021), which starred Priyanka Chopra and Rajkummar Rao. The year 2023 turned out to be triple whammy for him as he was in the comic-thriller web series Guns And Gulaabs, the coming of age film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan and the Hollywood anthology drama Extrapolations. Apart from these, he has also been web-series such as Leila and Hostel Daze.

Those who have seen him in any of these would agree that it's difficult to forget his portrayals. Take for example him playing Jugnu in Guns And Gulaabs- there is a lingering hidden threat whenever Gourav is in a scene with those below him in the pecking order. And the last scene where he goes to meet his don like father (Satish Kaushik) is reminiscent of the surprise one felt during the climax in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). And one reason he has this impact is because he believes in the importance of the craft.

"I think an aspect of being an actor in the current day and age which isn't spoken about enough is training in the craft. Acting is an acquired skill, there's nothing called a born actor or a natural actor. You're born with certain qualities that help you set the platform to be an actor, like being empathetic. And those are also things that are taught to you through conditioning, parenting and your environment. However, the importance of training is never spoken about- especially in a day and age when there are so many shows and films and so many actors around- I feel it's even it's even more important for people to train.
Because I feel like if as an actor you want to stand out, that is what will help you. Your craft and your expertise at what you do will help you distinguish yourself from the crowd," Gourav told us.

Recently, he also picked up a much coveted role- in Ridley Scott's Alien prequel series, and it didn't come easy. Gourav had given around 250 auditions in the last three years. "It's incredibly tough to get work outside of India, especially when you're not physically present there, because you're doing everything virtually. But I think I'm very fortunate to have agents who believe in me and you know, who persisted along with me and sort of never gave up on me and also encouraged me to audition not just for Indian parts but parts not necessarily written for Indians," he said.

Along with that, his future projects include Reema Kagti's comedy-drama Superman of Malegaon and Season 2 of Guns and Gulaabs, among others.

Currently, however, he is basking in the success of his role Kho Gaye Hum Kahan as Neel, a fitness trainer who is dating an Instagram influencer, for which Gourav had completely transformed his physique, making the rest of us watching the film feel quite, well, out of shape.

The author can be reached at bkabir@entrepreneurindia.com and Instagram.com/kabirsinghbhandari