5 minutes agoAuthor: Ashish Tiwari/Arunima Shukla
- copy link
This chair scene from the series Panchayat is still in the minds of people.
In the first part of the series Panchayat, the story of the angry son-in-law and his wheeled chair became very famous. This character of the angry son-in-law was played by Asif Khan.
At 1 pm Asif reached the office of Dainik Bhaskar in Mumbai to tell the story of his struggle. To welcome him, we also gave him a chair with wheels, seeing which he laughed. Asif said that he did not know that this small role would become so famous. During the look test, Asif wished that he would not be selected for this role, but he passed the audition.
Born in a small village in Rajasthan, Asif has overcome many struggles to reach here. There was a time when he used to work as a waiter in a hotel. He also worked as a waiter at the wedding of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor.
Today in Struggle Story, read the story of Asif Khan’s struggle in his own words…
Father worked in Jaypee Cement, joined drama to avoid studies
Asif Khan was born on 13 March 1991 in a small village Nimbahera in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. His father worked in JP Cement and his mother is a housewife.
Talking about his childhood, he said, ‘Abba used to work in JP Cement. With the money that came from here, I got admission in an English medium school. However, I was not good at studies at all. I used to pass somehow.
During this time, I came to know about the annual function being held in the school. To avoid studying, I also participated in a play. Along with friends, I started getting praise from those teachers too, who never praised me for studies.
Due to this encouragement, I started participating in many other drama competitions. Due to this, I became popular around Chittorgarh.
Asif Khan with his father in this picture.
After the death of his father, the family was in dire straits, Asif had to do menial jobs
‘Everything was going well when in 2008, father passed away. It was as if a mountain of sorrow fell on the house. Elder brother was good in studies. In such a situation, we decided that he will complete his studies and I will earn for the needs of the house.
At this time I was in 7th class. After my father passed away, I was not able to pay the school fees. Hence I withdrew from there and got admission in a government school. First of all I got a job in Airtel office. I used to work there from morning to afternoon, then go to school. After leaving from there I used to go back to work. This continued for one and a half to two years. During this time I did many small jobs. For some time I also worked with my uncle in steel furniture.
Reached Mumbai after lying to his mother
‘There was some money from my father’s PF. Amma thought that with that money, I should be admitted to a diploma course in a nearby college. I got upset hearing all this. Even though I was doing other jobs, my heart was in acting. One day, when I got a chance, I told Amma the truth that I only wanted to become an actor.
She was shocked to hear this. She thought that I would ruin my life by joining the acting field. She opposed my decision a lot and decided that she would agree only after I got admission in diploma. Then to avoid this I told a lie.
I told my mother that I wanted to go to my maternal grandfather’s house in Indore. She gave her permission for this. On reaching the station, instead of boarding the train to Indore, I boarded the train to Mumbai and came to Mumbai. After reaching here, I told my mother the truth. Then she said angrily- what have you gone to Mumbai to do?
In response I said – Give me some time, you will know what I have come to do.
Asif had shared this photo with his mother on his social media account.
A relative betrayed him when he came to Mumbai
Asif came to Mumbai at the age of 17. When he reached Borivali station and called his relative living here, he was shocked to hear the reply from the other side. Asif says about this, ‘I will not take the name of that person. When I told him that I have come to Mumbai and want to come to his house, then he said – do not call me after today. We have no relationship.
After this I called one or two more people, but no one helped. Then a friend came as a savior and gave me a place to stay in his small house.’
Got my first job as a waiter in a hotel, started living in a chawl with 6-7 people
‘I started looking for work 4-5 days after coming to Mumbai. Then with the help of a coordinator named Satish Kaurav, I got a job as a waiter in the Westin Hotel. Here I was paid Rs 225 a day and got one meal a day. Only accommodation arrangements were left.
Satish ji also arranged for us to stay in a chawl near the hotel, where the monthly rent was Rs 800. 6-7 of us lived in one room.
I informed my mother about this job, so that she too could be assured that her son was not going on the wrong path.
Washed dishes at Saif and Kareena’s wedding function
Asif cleaned the kitchen at the wedding of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. About this day, he says, ‘After working at the Westin Hotel, I started working at another famous hotel in Mumbai. Here I worked in the kitchen department.
One day I saw that Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan’s wedding was to take place in the same hotel in the evening. I was very happy to see that I would meet many famous celebrities today. However, this did not happen.
The function started in the evening. I saw that big celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone had come to the function. I was watching them from the kitchen itself, I was restless to meet them from within. I asked the manager to give me the job of a waiter today, but he did not agree. I pleaded a lot, but his heart did not melt. Due to the manager’s stubbornness, I could not meet those people sitting at a short distance, meeting whom was my biggest dream.
It was a question of an empty stomach. So I kept quiet and swallowed the bitter pill and locked myself in the bathroom and cried a lot.
Asif was seen in the series Paatal Lok. His character’s name in the series was Kabir.
When the casting coordinator said- you are not hero material
Asif told that while working in the hotel, he used to go for auditions, but every time he had to face rejection. Once he even went to Anurag Kashyap’s office, but the guard did not let him go inside. During this time, such an incident happened with Asif, which hurt him a lot.
Asif said, ‘One day I met casting coordinator Shanti Lal Mukherjee. When I gave the audition, he said that I am doing mimicry. Then he said – you are not hero material, nor do you know acting. Nor is your father a millionaire who will invest money to launch you. It would be better if you learn acting first.
Although I felt bad about what he said, somewhere it also showed me the mirror. After this incident, I started thinking about learning acting.
Did not get admission in acting school due to lack of money
‘Barry John is considered to be the best acting guru. I also went to him to take admission, but returned empty handed from there too. The reason was that I did not have enough money for the fees.
Tired and exhausted, I came back to Rajasthan and started doing theatre there. After 5-6 years, we had a play in Kala Ghoda Film Festival. It won the Best Play award. Seeing the love of people for it, I got encouraged again and came back to Mumbai in 2016.
Even on returning to Mumbai, I was disappointed
Asif thought that after doing theatre, he would easily get work in the industry. However, this did not happen. He told, ‘After coming to Mumbai, the process of asking for work started again, but in return, I only got the tag of NOT FIT. 2-3 months passed, money also ran out. Then I thought of doing some other work for some time.
I thought I should do casting. For this I met actor Abhishek Banerjee. Then, thanks to him, I got the opportunity to do casting for films like Raid, Lukka Chhuppi and Arjun Patiala.
After so much struggle, Asif got work for the first time in the film India’s Most Wanted. After this, he was seen in series like Paatal Lok, Jamtara, Mirzapur and Panchayat.
In the series Mirzapur, Asif Khan played the role of a person named Babar Khan.
did not want to work in panchayat
Asif got a lot of popularity due to the series Panchayat. However, the special thing is that he did not want to work in this series. He said, ‘I was shooting for Mirzapur and Paatal Lok. One day I got a call from casting director Navneet Srivastava, who is also a very good friend of mine. He said – There is a series, Panchayat. There is a character of an arrogant son-in-law in it. You are perfect for it, come and audition for it. However, the screen space is very small.
Hearing this, I refused because I was already working on two projects, but due to their insistence, I went for the audition. In the scorching heat, I was made to wear a coat and an old turban. This made me even more upset. I gave the audition in the same bad mood. Perhaps because of this, my acting seemed very natural and everyone liked my work. I got selected even though I didn’t want to.
Then I came to Bhopal, completed the shooting and went back to Mumbai. After a few days, I did not even remember that I had worked in a series called Panchayat. To be honest, I did not even know that it would be streamed on Amazon Prime.
This series was released after a long time. My niece was born around the time of its release. I was so busy with hospital work that I didn’t even know when this series was streamed.
One day I got a call from a friend and he told me that this character of mine has become very famous. I could not believe it. Today I feel very happy to see this love of people.
Asif Khan was seen in the first and third seasons of the Panchayat series. He did not have a role in the second season.
Asif also talked about his upcoming projects. He said- I will be seen in films like Vampire of Vijay Nagar, The Virgin Tree and Noorani Chehra in the coming days. In these films, I will get a chance to work with actors like Ayushmann Khurrana, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Sanjay Dutt and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Apart from this, there are 2-3 more films.