Saanand Verma, who recently won the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Icon Awards films 2021 for his portrayal of Anokhelal Saxena in Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain, recently revealed dealing with mental health issues. The actor is known for his work in shows such as CID, F.I.R. and films, Mardaani, Raid and Chhichhore, Pataakha, Hum Do Hamare Do, Raat Baaki Hai and Helmet would also be seen in Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming film- India Lockdown and also an upcoming web series on Amazon Prime called “Guilty Minds”.
“Every day, I feel that there is an invisible power over me and that is the reason I thank God. Every day, there is something happening, some miracle and I feel maybe someone is just using a joystick and playing, and the entire world is a video game for somebody. Every day I see something very bizarre, extremely disturbing sometimes, and my life has been very weird. I was an eight-year-old kid when I started earning for my family. I have seen various fields and I have been educating myself through things in my life. I was a guy earning Rs 50 lakh per annum in my corporate job, and I just quit that job and started walking 50 km every day like a mad man, just to be an actor. I thought that my true calling is acting. Therefore, I quit my secured job and put all my money into the house, and sold my car because I didn’t have any money left to pay for my vehicle. Public transportation like bus and train was not my cup of tea because I used to earn a lot of money in my corporate job. I thought that I cannot afford a cab or even an auto-rickshaw, so, I have to go on foot. I started walking 50 km every day from Mira Road to Andheri to give auditions and back from Andheri to Mira Road. It was my daily routine. Only a mad man like me can think to do something like this,” he shares.
On whether all this walking affects his health, Saanand answers in negative. He says that these works, on the contrary, helped him observe a lot of people, which is a plus. “Acting is all about observation. If you observe nicely, you can become a great actor. If I am driving a car, my focus will only be on driving. When I am on foot, I can observe and I can learn to become a better actor. Within six months of my audition phase, I became an advertising star, thanks to Amit Sharma, who directed Badhaai Ho. He’s a fantastic friend and a great filmmaker. He used to work with me on a lot of ads. So, he made me an advertising star. My ‘IDEA’ ad where I say, “Idea sir ji, aap kaun se ‘ped’ ho, ‘pre-paid’ ho ya ‘post-paid’ ho?” That commercial was a super-duper hit and in between, I used to dabble with television also. Shashank Bali offered me roles in F.I.R and I’ve done more than 100 characters in it,” he says.
After Saanand quit his 50 lakh per annum corporate job to become an actor, he was left with no money. “I had got a lot of money in the form of gratuity and Provident Fund, and I used that money to waive my home loan off because having a house in Mumbai is a very big achievement. I thought, ‘Let me get my own house first, and I can think about other things later.’ The home loan was cleared, I was unable to repay the car loan, that is why I just sold it off and I started walking. That is one example of why I feel that I am a mad guy. There are many other things to justify this point. I am a singer also and was a corporate guy, who would leave home for work at 8 am but I would wake up at 5 for my ‘riyaaz’ (practice). After my ‘riyaaz’ I used to go to the office and would barely sleep for 4 hours,” he adds.
