Panchayat’s Bhushan, aka Banrakas faced rejection and struggle a lot | Panchayat’s ‘Banrakas’ was in depression twice: said- ‘Falled at the feet of casting director and asked for role, worked in soft porn films’

Season 3 of the web series ‘Panchayat’ is in the headlines these days. In the series, Durgesh Kumar has played the role of Bhushan i.e. Banarakas which is being liked a lot. In an interview, Durgesh talked about his struggle in the film world and said that he has been in depression twice and he did not get success in the film industry so easily.

Durgesh is a pass out from National School of Drama.

Durgesh was in depression twice in 11 years

In an interview, Durgesh Kumar said, ‘I have been in depression twice in 11 years. Honestly, if you are not mentally and financially healthy, then you should not come into the acting field. This is not a place worth trying. It is full of crazy people. Pankaj Tripathi and Manoj Bajpayee have been my seniors. There were 20 people in Pankaj Tripathi’s batch alone, all were very talented but did you see anyone else apart from Pankaj? There were 30 people in Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s batch but apart from Nawaz, only Nirmal Das was the one who got a role in Sarfarosh. He later went mad and passed away. No one knows about this. Do you see the struggle here? You have to be very strong mentally here. If you are not mentally strong, then please do not come to Bombay.’

Falling at the feet of the casting director, he asked for a role

Durgesh talked about his struggle journey and told how he came to Mumbai from Darbhanga, Bihar. He said, ‘When I came to Mumbai for the second time on 28 May 2016, some students of Madhya Pradesh Drama School became my friends. We wanted to enter the film industry at any cost. We made Aram Nagar our base. We knocked on the doors of every casting director, I would fall at their feet and ask for a role from them. This was the situation when I had done films like ‘Highway’, ‘Freaky Ali’ and ‘Sultan’.’

Durgesh in a scene from the web series ‘Panchayat’.

My friends used to abuse me for falling at people’s feet and begging for work. I used to say, I have to crack it at any cost. This is the kind of struggle and dedication you need to make a place in the industry. I used to find it very embarrassing that despite working in films, I used to go to any audition because the casting directors knew me. In the first season of ‘Panchayat’, I got a chance to work only for one day. My shoot was completed in two and a half hours. I am thankful to Chandan Kumar and Deepak Kumar Mishra who wrote the role of Banaras.

Durgesh Kumar with Randeep Hooda in the film ‘Highway’.

Had to work in soft porn films

Durgesh told that he came to Mumbai for the first time in 2013. After this he gave many auditions but the casting directors used to tell him that he has talent but the auditions were not working out. After this he got a chance to work in Imtiaz Ali’s film Highway but even after this when he did not get work, he had to do soft porn films to survive. Durgesh said, ‘I could not live without acting. I did many kinds of work because I knew how much potential I had.’