Meet actor, who was rejected due to looks, joined call centre despite MBA degree, has trained Sehwag, Harbhajan for...

From Shartrughan Sinha to the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput and from Manoj Bajpayee to Pankaj Tripathi, there have been several actors who have come from Bihar in the Hindi film industry. Another addition in this list is of the actor Vikas Kumar, who also works as a dilaogue coach in Bollywood.

Born in Gaya, Bihar in 1980, Vikas Kumar attended the famous boarding school Welham Boys' School, Dehradun, and also purused MBA from Pune. After watching Aamir Khan-starrer Rangeela, Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, and Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Satya multiple times in a theatre, he decided he wanted to become an actor. When Kumar came to know that SRK and Manoj have received acting training from the renownned theatre director Barry John, he joined a three-month acting course with him. After the course, Vikas started doing plays in Delhi.

Before starting his acting journey, Vikas became a dialogue coach for Aamir Raza Husain's legendary play The Legend of Ram: Prince of India, whose entire cast and crew was felicitated by the former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. After the play, the actor's first role as the dialogue coach was for the 2006 Hollywood film One Night With The King. Recalling how he got the foreign project, Vikas told Rediff in an interview, "I joined a call centre, and underwent the mandatory three-week voice and accent training. I got a certificate for best performer. As soon as I finished my training, I got a call from a Hollywood production house to be a dialogue coach in the film One Night With The King (2006), which would be shot in Jodhpur."

After the Hollywood film, Vikas started getting voice coaching jobs for famous films like Udaan, Gulaal, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, 7 Khoon Maaf, and others. Simultaneouly, he also started getting roles in TV as an actor. He has acted in famous shows such as Powder, Khotey Sikkey, Adaalat, and CID. Vikas has also acted in few films such as Ajji, Hamid, Parmanu, and Dhamaka. However, Vikas' most famous role has been in Hotstar crime drama web series Aarya, headlined by Sushmita Sen, in which he has played ACP Khan. He was also seen in the Netflix series Kaala Paani last year. The actor has also shared in his interviews that he has faced multiple rejections in his career because of his colour.

Apart from his acting career, Vikas Kumar now works as a dialect coach on films, public speaking coach at beauty pageants, and voice trainer at Star Sports under his own company Strictly Speaking. He has trained famous cricketers such as Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, and Navjot Singh Sidhu as a voice coach for cricket commentary. Vikas' most recent works as a dialogue coach have been blockbusters such as Pathaan, Salaar, and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, and critically-acclaimed web series such as Jubilee, Dahaad, and The Railway Men amongst others.

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