Shiv Panditt became a household name with his role as inspector Hanuman Prasad Pandey in cop-comedy FIR. Later, the actor took the plunge into films with Ronnie Screwvala's production Aagey Se Right and Bejoy Nambiar's Shaitan, which earned him positive reviews.
However, the success of Shaitan only resulted in offers of stereotypical villainous roles. "Nobody knew how to position me," says Shiv.
"Then I got offered a film from a very big studio called Mumbai Delhi Mumbai but the studio in the middle had some changes and the film got stuck. They later released it in some theatre for half an hour because they had a TV deal where they needed to release the film theatrically. So, they literally released the film for half an hour, and then they put it on television."
Shiv believes that now with actors like Pankaj Tripathi and Rajesh Tailang taking over the films' posters, things are changing for the better in the film industry.
"Over the years, the evolution of cinema in this country has now made people and the actors themselves realised that 'I can dream certainly... I don't have to be like this and I can be this instead.' Earlier, you wouldn't have seen Pankaj and Rajesh sir on posters. Maybe they were not stereotypical looking for the business but the audience has evolved and now they want to see actors who have talent. Of course, there are going to be the stereotypical films but even in those films, the audience is really promoting those people who they'd like to see on the screen. Today, the audience has complete autonomy and power. Today, the content is everything," he adds.
Shiv is currently receiving praise for his stylish performance as an Arab security agency officer Faiz Abu Malik in Khuda Haafiz, which recently released on Disney+ Hostar. The actor says Khuda Haafiz is the result of his seven-eight years of constant hard work despite facing some major failures and setbacks in his career.
"I was working on another film when I got this opportunity with Khuda Haafiz and the thing is I have always been very picky when it comes to choosing films. More often than not it's misconstrued with people thinking that I don't take up much work or maybe I don't get the kind of work I want. I have made some mistakes with certain films I have done in the past. I chose a few films which I'm not very happy about. But I want to learn from my mistakes. I wanted to make sure that now when I come back into a commercial film space that has effectively been in 2013 after Boss, the next film that I do should be the one which I'm remembered for and known to be a part of.
"Now I have a certain acceptance which I didn't have before. I used to buy into dejection. I have realised how much I'm going to feel bad about something. I'm going to waste my time only as no one is going to come and wipe my tears off and give me a pat on the back. The thing is you have to make your own way. The only way to make your own way is to move ahead and keep working. If I had stopped working to sit and cry, I would probably have not got Khuda Haafiz," he said.
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