3 days agoAuthor: Kiran Jain/Arunima Shukla
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Laddu ke bhaiya or Tiwari ji….
The person whose face starts flashing before our eyes on hearing these two names is ‘Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hain’ fame Rohitashv Gaur. In this year’s Struggle Story, we have included their story.
Born in Haryana, Rohitashva was brought up in Shimla. He told that he had got admission in NSD in the first attempt, but the struggle in Mumbai was tiring. As soon as he came to Mumbai, he developed ankylosing spondylitis, due to which he had to return to Delhi.
After coming to Mumbai a few years later, he started the second innings of his career. After so much struggle, he first turned to TV and then appeared on the big screen as well. Got work, but kept struggling for real identity.
Finally, after a long wait, he got a job in the TV show ‘Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hain’. However, he did not think that the show would be such a hit and his fortunes would change. At the same time, people were not even sure that he would be able to play the role of Manmohan Tiwari in such a perfect manner.
Rohitashv told that he has been a part of the show ‘Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hain’ since the beginning. The first episode of the show went on air on 2 March 2015. Artists like Asif Shaikh, Shubhangi Atre are also seen in this show.
First of all Rohitashv talked about the show ‘Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hain’. He said, ‘We never thought that this show would run for so many years. Soumya ji and we all thought that it would be closed after 4 months, but it did not happen. Now this show is about to complete 10 years.
Before this, I used to work in the show ‘Lapataganj’, in which my character was of a calm nature. This was the reason that when I was cast in this show, many people expressed their objection that I would not be able to play this role, but the writer of the show expressed confidence in me.
Father earned less, mother had to manage the expenses.
Rohitashv told that he was born in Kalka village of Haryana. However, he was brought up in Shimla, where his father worked in a government job. Rohitashva told about those days, ‘Thanks to God, my childhood was very good. Never witnessed a period of extreme hardship.
Yes, it was true that father’s salary was not very high. In such a situation, it was a bit difficult for the mother to manage the household expenses. It was also difficult because mother wanted all of us brothers and sisters to study in a good school.
Deliberately failed in 11th for acting
Rohitashva further told how he got associated with acting. He said, ‘Father used to run All India Association in Shimla, in which dance and drama competitions were held from time to time. Because of this I can say that I have inherited acting.
However, father did not want me to make acting a profession. They wanted me to study from science stream, but I did not want that at all. One of my teachers had also explained to him that I can do well in the acting field, but he did not agree. Then I figured out a trick and deliberately failed in 11th. Then they were forced to get me admitted in the art stream.
Got admission in NSD in first attempt
Once an NSD workshop was organized by Language Art and Culture in Shimla. Many teachers from NSD had come to this workshop. I also took training here for a month. One of the teachers said that I should do an acting course from NSD. Following his advice, I first completed my graduation and then gave the NSD entrance exam. I was lucky that I got selected in the first attempt.
I paid the fees here with scholarship money. After a 3-year course, I came to Mumbai with the dream of becoming an actor like common strugglers.
Rohitashv and his wife Rekha with parents in the pictures.
Mumbai’s initial journey was full of struggle
Rohitashv told that it had been only a few days since he came to Mumbai that he had to go back to Delhi. He told, ‘After passing out from NSD, I came to the city of dreams Mumbai in 1989. Everyone thinks that if you have passed out from NSD, you will easily get work here. However, in reality just the opposite happens.
As soon as we reached Mumbai, the first thing we did was find a room in a chawl to stay. A small room was found, where 5-6 people were already living. I didn’t feel like staying in that room, it would be difficult to even turn over while sleeping there. However, there was no other way.
The first few days were spent just wandering around for work. Wherever I went in search of work, I was met with disappointment. Actually, at that time there was only DD1 channel and shows like Mahabharata, Ramayana and Chanakya had just started being made. Because of this, TV shows became people’s first choice.
As a result, there used to be longer queues for auditions for these shows than for the big screen. Today, even big stars of the TV world used to stand in queue at that time. In such a situation, it was very difficult to get work. My struggle for work was continuing when an illness ruined all my hard work.
Rohitashv told that he has been associated with the acting field since 1986.
Due to sleeping on rooftop, back problem occurred, had to go back to Delhi
‘One day it was the birthday of the son of the mistress of the house. He asked all the tenants to vacate their rooms and sleep on the terrace for his guests. We all objected to this, but she remained firm on her decision. Tired and exhausted, we all went to sleep on the terrace.
Never had the habit of sleeping on the rooftop. There was a lot of difficulty in sleeping at night due to the noise of flights. Somehow it caught my eye. Due to sunlight, my eyes opened early in the morning, but what happened in the next moment was scary. The entire back was drenched due to leakage of water from the tank. As soon as I tried to get up, I could not get up. In this condition, some friends picked me up and took me to the hospital. One of these friends was Sanjay Mishra.
Seeing the condition, the doctor hurriedly did an X-ray. It was found that there was an attack of ankylosing spondylitis, which would have to be treated immediately. However, quick recovery was difficult in the Mumbai weather. I didn’t have any other option. Ultimately I had to come back to Delhi. Here I worked in the repertory of NSD for a few years.
Used to survive with small roles, first full role after about 1000 cameos
Rohitashva further said, ‘I came back to Mumbai in 1997. The struggle to ask for work began again. After a few days of struggle, I got a job in the TV show ‘Mujhe Chand Chahiye’, which was directed by Satish Kaushik and Raja Bundela.
However, even after this the struggle did not end. I had no work at all for about 2-3 years. Father used to say that I should come to Shimla and look for some other work there, but I could not do injustice to my dream.
Then father gave me time for 3 years. Did a lot of episodic work in these 3 years, meaning some shows had 2 episodes, some had 3. By doing this work, 7-8 thousand rupees would be collected per month, which would definitely cover the expenses. Then I started working with writer Ashwini Dheer. It was he who gave me work in the TV show ‘Lapataganj’ which changed my fortunes. Before this, I had done more than 1000 cameos in TV and films.
Many big projects were lost due to lack of knowledge of English.
Rohitashv was not good at English. Because of this he had to face rejection many times. He said, ‘Once I went to audition for a big production house. Even though the audition was to be in Hindi, when the casting team realized that I was bad at English, they did not give me the role. I was also surprised to see all this.
I don’t know how many times there were difficulties in getting work due to lack of proper English.
People used to refuse to marry him knowing he was an actor.
Rohitashv told that because of being an actor, he was not getting married. Regarding this he said, ‘Whenever someone came with a relationship, their first question was what do I do. As soon as those people came to know that I was an actor, they immediately said no to the relationship.
Rohitashv told that his bonding with director Rajkumar Hirani is very good. He has also worked in Hirani’s films like ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’, ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’, ‘PK’ and ‘Danky’.
One day during the rehearsal of a play by IPTA (Indian People’s Theater Association), I met Rekha. The story of this meeting is such that one day during the rehearsal of the play, a friend asked- What is your next plan?
I said- I am thinking of getting married, but can’t find a girl.
Then that friend called Rekha and said- Marry him.
I was shocked and said- How can I marry her like this?
However, Rekha knew that this was all a joke. After that meeting we started talking and we decided to get married. Then the family members also happily accepted our relationship.
Rekha has supported me a lot during the times of struggle. She is truly Lakshmi for me, after marrying her I have seen growth in my career.
Rohitashv and Rekha (in green saree) have been married for almost 21 years. He also has two daughters.
Rohitashv said- Actors like Nawazuddin, Pankaj Tripathi are at the top of their career, but not me.
Rohitashv told that he is successful today, people recognize him, but there is a difficulty in not being able to create a recognition like Pankaj Tripathi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He said, ‘Today OTT is dominant. Celebs like Nawazuddin, Pankaj Tripathi are doing very good work on OTT. All of them were also associated with NSD, these people were my juniors there, but today they are successful actors.
Seeing all this makes me sad that I could not be as successful as I wanted to be.
The day my father died was the worst moment of my life.
Rohitashv also talked about the worst moment of his life. He told, ‘That was the worst day of my life, the day my father died. I cried a lot this day. It felt as if some part of the body had been cut off. Apart from being a father, he was also a true friend, he supported me at every step.