In an exclusive phone interview with The Free Press Journal, the man who played Yogi Adityanath spoke to us about apprehensions about playing him, career struggles, and more

Actor Anant Vijay Joshi bagged a role which will go on to be one of the most talked about in his career, that of playing Yogi Adityanath in Ajey – An Autobiography of a Yogi, inspired by Shantanu Gupta's book The Monk Who Became Chief Minister. But the movie, directed by Ravindra Gautam, and which recently released in theatres, isn’t the only one because of which he is in the news. Two of the films he was in, 12th Fail and Kathal, found themselves associated with this year’s National Awards. Personally, though, my favourite role by him is that of Golden in the romantic thriller web series Ye Kaali Kaali Ankhein, where he is truly entertaining with his comic timing and chirpy personality. In an exclusive phone interview with he spoke about whether he was apprehensive about playing Yogi Adityanath, struggles in his acting career, and much more. Excerpts:

Q. There must have been some apprehensions about the fact that you are playing a politician as prominent as him?

A. At this early stage in my career, I didn't want to engage with a script which is politically very polarizing. I felt so relieved because it doesn't reflect on any political party, ideology, or a belief system. It's about how his individual belief system was created. It's a privilege to play a leading man in the film, and that too of such a prominent character, so yes, there was a bit of apprehension. But at the same time, every apprehension brought a lot of excitement and sort of nervousness and a sense of challenge — which I thought, if I don't take it now, then I don’t know when I would get such an opportunity.

Q. How did you prepare for the role?

A. I wanted to be honest with his value system — the fact that so early in his life, he started staying in a math, which isn’t an easy task. I spoke to a lot of people from the math where he comes from. But I would love to meet him in the future and show him the movie and find out what he thinks about it.

Q. How was it working with legends such as Paresh Rawal and Pavan Malhotra?

A. They are like a library comprising all of the experiences they've had in the film industry. The most memorable part of working with them is that they believed in me so much. They... I can't tell you how it changes when senior actors like them treat you like their children, and when they start believing in you, and that what you are doing is so good for the film — it's very reassuring.

Q. Was there a phase in your career which involved a lot of struggle?

A. You know, it's a very tempting question to answer, but what I would honestly tell you is that I never saw acting as a profession; I take it as a lifestyle. Like how we love to do something and then commit to it. Like getting a tattoo — even in later stages, whether you like it or not, you have to stick with it. So just like that, there have been downtimes and days where I had to struggle and ask for work, as I wasn’t getting the kind of projects that I wanted. But I looked at all of these as part of my lifestyle, which I had committed to, knowing that it wasn’t going to be a bed of roses. I think I'm not so fragile as to be deeply affected by petty struggles. Also, by the grace of God, I've had a very supportive family and set of friends who always trusted in my talent and the direction which I wanted to take in my career. They always had shown an immense amount of faith in me, and that has always helped me and navigated me in the direction that I'm heading right now. I'm not trying to pose a very rosy picture, but I've met people who have always trusted in my skill and talent. You keep working on your craft and yourself. When there’s no commercial work, then there’s the stage — there’s so much to learn, and it engages you. Of course, there have been hardships, but I never took them as if it's the end of the world.

Q. Tell us about your future projects.

A. I’m very excited about Mamla Legal Hai Season 2 — it's funnier and better than Season 1, for sure. So I'm really excited about it, which will probably come out next year. My new film with Ashutosh Rana is coming out, called One Two Cha Cha Cha. It's a blown-up comedy film, and so different from Ajey. Should be in theatres by the end of this year. These are the projects that I can talk about right now.