He made his big Bollywood debut with Omung Kumar’s directorial, Mary Kom. We are talking about actor Darshan Kumaar, who featured opposite Priyanka Chopra Jonas in the film, which won many awards. At that time, Darshan was nominated as the best newcomer at several award functions. However, his journey before Mary Kom wasn’t as easy as it may seem. The actor went through his own set of hardships. 

In an exclusive interview with Times Now Digital, Darshan opened up about the difficult phase of his life when he couldn’t even afford bus travel. The actor said things were tough for him, as he didn’t belong from the industry and he had to start from scratch. He said:

“I used to walk 5 to 7 kms because I couldn’t afford (travelling in) buses every day, to go for the auditions. So, instead of taking bus tickets, I used to use that money and buy Parle G (biscuit) so I could survive the entire day outside, eating that Parle G (biscuit) packet. After that, I used to do dubbing for 400 to 500 rupees, full day. That was a very tough time. Because full day you are working really hard, shouting and, doing stuff but you are hardly getting paid.”

Though he had to struggle a lot, one particular thing gave him a lot of exposure. And that was:

“But luckily I was doing theatre with Mr Naseeruddin Shah, where I learnt a lot and got exposure to perform and showcase my talent. I performed all over the world and so that gave me a lot of confidence. Because that’s what I feel – you need real talent to survive in the industry. So that’s how I survived. And then I got my first film Mary Kom and before that I did two to three (TV) seirals.”

Darshan added that he worked really hard when he used to do TV shows. The actor mentioned that working in TV industry was a learning phase for him.

However, even after doing films like Mary Kom and NH10, the actor revealed A-list directors would say they needed bankable actors for their movies. Recalling those days of his life, Darshan said:

“All A-list directors used to meet me and they would say ya ‘Darshan we want to make a film with you. You are superb actor and have good looks. But we need bankable actors, who can recover money within three days. You become something big then we will take you’.”

After hearing that from the directors, Darshan used to wonder how would he make it big without their support, but he stated that he couldn’t say anything at that point in time. But after his web series Aashram, Darshan did two films as lead. And now, his web show The Family Man 2 has been equally loved as the first season.

Following the success of the show, Darshan signed off by saying that has currently received some good film offers.