Meet actor, who quit CA exams to enter Bollywood, then made award-winning debut, but got 'blacklisted' because...

From Alia Bhatt and Aamir Khan to Deepika Padukone to Akshay Kumar, several actors have quit their studies to pursue acting. One such upcoming actor in this list is Siddhant Chaturvedi, who quit his final CA exams to enter Bollywood, made an impressive debut in Gully Boy, and hasn't looked back since then.

Born in 1993 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, Siddhant moved to Mumbai when he was five years old. He followed in the footsteps of his father and started preparing to become a chartered accountant (CA) after his school. But as he entered Mithibai College, Siddhant developed an interest in theatre and stared doing plays.

After winning a popular fresh face contest, Siddhant left his final CA exams and started giving auditions to enter Bollywood. In 2016, he appeared in the web series Life Sahi Hai on YouTube and grabbed the Amazon Prime web show Inside Edge in 2017. His performance as a young bowler Prashant Kanaujia was appreciated, but the actor always wanted to see himself on the big screen.

At the success party of Inside Edge, Siddhant's life changed when he was spotted by the filmmaker Zoya Akhtar. Zoya asked him to audition for Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt-starrer Gully Boy. He played the rapper MC Sher in the film and impressed the masses and classes with his amazing performance. Siddhant even went on to win Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, Zee Cine Award and Screen Award for Best Male Debut for the 2019 film.

Siddhant was then seen in Bunty Aur Babli 2 in 2021, Gehraiyaan and Phone Bhoot in 2022, and his last film was the Netflix release Kho Gaye Hum Kahan in 2023. A major film, which could have been part of his filmography is the 2022 blockbuster Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva. The actor recently revealed in an interview that he was offered the fantasy action adventure film one month before Gully Boy, he refused it, and was thus 'blacklisted' in the casting circuit for his decision.

Talking to Lallantop, Siddhant said, "I told the casting director that I won’t be able to do it. He stood up and said, ‘Pagal hai, Dharma ke saath hai, 3 films ka contract hai.’ So I said, ‘Who will watch me, if Amitabh Bachchan is there, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are there together. Mujhe blacklist kar diya gaya casting se. Blacklist kar diya ki ye toh pagal hai ladka. Badnaam ho gaya tha main casting circuit mein ki ye select ho ke na bol deta hai. They would think ‘Hai kaun bhai tu? Arrogant hai, cocky hai'. Thankfully that film took a lot of time to make. By then Gully Boy had come. I think that character (in Brahmastra) they edited out. It wasn’t in the film. In a way, whatever happened, happened for good."

Now, Siddhant Chaturvedi has multiple films lined up for release. He will be seen next in the action film Yudhra, and two untitled romantic films in which he shares screen space with Triptii Dimri and Mrunal Thakur, respectively.

READ | Meet actor, whose Bollywood debut was massive flop, then gave seven Rs 100-crore films, is now among biggest superstars

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