This Bollywood struggler holds a PhD

Vivek Sudarshan is a singer and aspiring actor who came starry-eyed to Mumbai from a small town. But he does not fit into the stereotype of a typical Bollywood struggler at all. 

For starters, he holds a PhD in science communications and runs an NGO that creates awareness about social and environmental issues.

He is also an accomplished puppeteer, having written a handbook for those who use puppetry as a teaching aid in rural schools and colleges.

Now his puppets will be seen as ‘emotional props’ in his debut film, Impatient Vivek. “My character is very shy and inexpressive and uses puppets to convey his feelings,” explains Sudarshan, who hails from Ghaziabad in UP.

A child prodigy of sorts, he was named ‘National Child Scientist’ at the Children Science Congress in 1993. “I was barely 14, and the project was titled ‘Clean Up India’. I worked on two topics — corruption and environment — both of which were well received,” says Sudarshan who went on for graduate and post-graduate studies in chemistry and physics.

In 2005, he heard about children being afflicted with a mysterious disease in Pilkhuwa, a textile city near his hometown. “The people and doctors understood that it was a water-borne disease, but they were perplexed as the children were drinking boiled water at home,” Sudarshan says.

Then he discovered that industrial dyes used by the textile units were making their way into the ponds where buffaloes would bathe and drink the water. “The effluents reached the children through the buffaloes’ milk,” he adds. The incident led Sudarshan and his team to work on low-cost kits that check water, ground spices and food colours for contamination.

Sudarshan also works towards creating awareness about social issues such as blind faith, AIDS and female foeticide. “We conduct puppet shows, trainings and workshops all over the country to address these subjects,” he adds. He also claims to have enraged tantriks and mystic gurus by exposing tricks that they pass off as miracles. “There is nothing spiritual or supernatural about these so-called godmen who use chemicals and natural substances to create magic or miracles.”

These days, the singer-actor is busy working on his Bollywood debut. “While I am passionate about science and social causes, singing is a dream I have always nurtured. Acting happened along the way,” says Sudarshan.