18 minutes agoAuthor: Umesh Kumar Upadhyay
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After working as a choreographer in many dance reality shows like ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’, ‘Nach Baliye’, ‘DID-4’, ‘DID Super Mom’, ‘Boogie Boogie’, Jason Tham has done films like ‘Happy New Year’, ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’, ‘Rocket Gang’, along with ‘Dil Dosti Dance’ show. His latest streamed web series is ‘Ranneeti’, while his upcoming projects include ‘For Your Eyes Only’, ‘Honeymoon Photographer’, ‘Special Ups’, ‘Jigra’, etc. Jason Tham had a special conversation with Dainik Bhaskar about his journey including his upcoming projects.
I was born in the US, grew up in Delhi and my ancestors were from China. It’s been 10 years since I came to Mumbai. Started his career from finance and accounting. Worked for a year in a CA firm in Delhi. After this went into dance. Participated in ‘Just Dance’.
The judges of this show were Hrithik Roshan, Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant. Here I was eliminated before the top 12, but from here I decided to take dance to the next level. After taking permission from home, I came to Mumbai. Here I stayed with a choreographer friend and started working as a choreographer in dance reality shows like ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’, ‘Nach Baliye’, ‘DID-4’, ‘DID Super Mom’, ‘Boogie Boogie’ etc. Along with this, the process of auditioning for many shows continued.
The first show I got was ‘Dil Dosti Dance’, for which a half dancer and half actor was required. I passed the audition for the dancer’s part in the first attempt, but gave 31 takes for the acting part because I did not know acting. After a week, I was called for a mock shoot, in that too I had to give 25 takes. I got selected in it and from here my acting journey started.
This is from 2013-2014. It took me three years to transfer from my dance journey to my acting journey. After this, I continued working as an actor in ‘Happy New Year’, ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’, ‘Rocket Gang’, ‘Strategy’ etc.
I used to get roles offered to me based on my looks
Basically, my look is very unique. It goes to Oriental Looking, goes to North Easton, so I used to get offered big tailor made roles. I used to get the role of the hero’s friend, brother or officer, which I used to play with great enthusiasm. This is the reason that today not only am I called for a powerful character, but they also find an Indian face in me.
I have done more than 100 commercial ad films till now, in which I get many lead roles. After the arrival of OTT, doors have opened for actors like me. Now everyone calls for auditions. He says that acting should be good. Put me in any scenario. I wanted to work with Neeraj Pandey, Basant Bala etc. and now all of them recommend me for work.
Papa was afraid that I might commit suicide etc.
I take rejections to this day. Rejection is a part of the entire journey. I take rejection like a stone, it cannot move me. Overcome or learn from rejection. I learn from rejection. I call the casting director only once to get an update. Yes, initially it felt very bad to get rejection. It seemed as if I was doing something wrong. Maybe work is not getting done because I am not lucky. I think things don’t come from luck, but from hard work.
Initially, I went into a lot of depression. It was the period between 2016 and 2017, when I refused everyone for dance and for some reason or the other, things were not working out for acting. I was rejected many times. Thus, I did not work for almost a year. It was a very break down phase for me. In such a situation, various thoughts used to come to my mind that you should go back, maybe this field is not for you. I was slowly breaking down. I would console myself so much!
But the most important factor was my father. Papa knew about my entire situation. He said, look son! I am standing behind you. Whatever you have to do, do it well. Don’t be afraid. Mom and dad always kept reassuring me that you should not commit suicide etc. It is surprising that within a week of talking to dad, I got a call for ‘Sanjeevani-2’ serial and got selected. Well, it was the support of my parents, due to which not only did I stand firm like a soldier here, but also kept moving forward.
Learned professionalism from Shahrukh and spontaneity from Sonakshi
Learned professionalism and humanity by working with Shahrukh Khan in ‘Happy New Year’. When they come to work, their big inputs keep coming. In ‘Happy Phir Bhag Jayegi’, I learned a lot from Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Shergill, Piyush Mishra etc. Worked again with Jimmy Shergill in the show ‘Ranneeti’, which streamed recently. Learned dialogue delivery on timing from Jimmy. Learned spontaneity from Sonakshi Sinha. Despite being such a big star, she talks very comfortably with her newcomer co-actor.
Talking to him, it never felt for a second that he had any attitude. Bosco Martis was directing ‘Rocket Gang’ for the first time. We had a three-month schedule for shooting it, but it took us almost three years to finish it. The scariest thing in this was that the children acting in the film were growing up. The director said that first finish the children’s scenes, after that we will shoot further.
People appreciated the web series ‘Strategy’
This series is based on Pulwama attack and Operation Balakot. The series is getting a lot of love and very good response. Worked with Lara Dutta in this. Scared to have an energy match with them. Got to know him very well while working. A different journey started from there. While working, I never felt as if I was talking to Miss Universe.
I felt like I was talking to an 18-20 year old girl because she is very funny. She makes you laugh even in serious matters. Her on and off switch is amazing. I learned a lot by watching her positive mind, positive energy and positive vibes. What can I say about Jimmy Sir? He keeps an eye on the work of those he likes. He is a big coffee lover. His timing and patience regarding anything is amazing.
Fell in love with Deeksha Solankar on the set
We met for the first time on the sets of ‘Agent Raghav’. I fell for her beauty and good behaviour on the very first day. Surprisingly, she was dating someone else and I was dating someone else. But our eyes clicked in the first meeting itself. We started going out on the second, third day. On the fourth, fifth day, I said I love you. On hearing this, Diksha also said, are you sure? I am saying this for sure. Think about it a little. Anyway, we started dating. We got engaged in 2018 and got married in 2021. Now it has been 2 years since our marriage. We are happily living a married life.
Upcoming Projects
One of my very good shows ‘For Your Eyes Only’ will come on OTT platform Netflix. This show is based on the first nuclear testing blast. It has an ensemble cast of Prateik Gandhi, Rajat Kapoor etc. It is a very excellent show. It has been shot very well.
The second show is named ‘Honeymoon Photographer’, which will be aired on Jio Cinema. It is basically a thriller genre show. In this, I am playing the role of a magician and podcast guy. Asha Negi is opposite me. It has been shot in Mumbai and Thailand. It took me at least 20 to 25 days to shoot for it. There is a show ‘Special Ups’ directed by Neeraj Pandey. Apart from this, I will be seen with Alia Bhatt in the film ‘Jigra’. This film is in post production.