An actor, Saharsh, known for his performance in popular movies, has carved his niche in the field of television and cinema by working in the field for the past twenty-one years.

Saharsh Kumar Shukla is a "Chhichhore" fame actor who is known for his offbeat acting. The audience has got to see his acting in movies like "Bachchan Pandey", "Raees", "Talvar" and “Photograph”. He has been working in the entertainment industry for the past twenty-one years.

Sharing about his journey, Saharsh says he was born in Unnao and brought up in Aihar, a small village near Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. He did his schooling from a small school in his village. After tenth grade, he opted for science subjects as his major, but things didn’t turn out as per his wish. He then moved to Lucknow to pursue graduation.

He prepared for two years for the civil services examination but felt he was wasting his hard work on things in which he did not have interest. While searching for his path, he came face to face with theater and got inclined towards films and acting. Slowly moving forward in this field, he became aware of the struggle and the truth of the field, but because he had decided to stay in this field, he kept moving forward on his path.

Remembering his childhood, Saharsh says his childhood was spent in a happy joint family.  Being the youngest in the family, his mischiefs were frowned upon  by all the elders. He is of a shy nature, but anger has also been a part of his personality.

Saharsh started learning acting by attending the workshops of Bhartendu Natya Academy in Lucknow.  In 2007, fortunately, he got admission to the Film and Television Institute of India. There he devoted himself completely and tried to learn the nuances of acting. After that, he came to Mumbai to try his luck in the acting world.

Recalling the struggle of his early days, Saharsh says that when he came to Mumbai, his father had retired a long time ago. He used to get help from home for only 4000/- rupees per month. He would pick up his bag every morning in Mumbai and give audition after audition. Sometimes he would drop his acting videos to a casting director and sometimes to a production house. In this way, two years were spent without any work, just giving auditions and looking for work.

From 2012, he started getting small roles. He first started by playing a small character in a movie named Shaheed. Then the process of getting small roles started for him, but the money was very less in which it was difficult to survive. People advised him to do other things to earn money. But he was determined that he had to work in movies only. Then he got a chance to work in the movie “Highway”. He got so much recognition from this movie that he no longer had to go looking for work. Now he was getting calls to give auditions.

Talking about his achievements, Saharsh says that he got some good movies like Vishal's “Rangoon”, Nitesh Tiwari's “Chhichhore”;  and Farhad Samji’s “Bachchan Pandey”. He got to do some good work, which helped in establishing his identity.

When asked about his mistakes, Saharsh says that he was very dedicated and focused towards his work from the beginning and wants to remain like this in future. But with his work, he never paid attention to his physical and mental health from the very beginning, which was his biggest mistake.  Now he is trying to rectify his mistake.

On being asked about his role models, Saharsh says that he was much influenced by his grandfather and considers him as his role model. He says that his grandfather was a very educated, settled and knowledgeable person. He still remembers the teachings given by him and the way he used to give him the knowledge of life.  As ‌his field of work increased, he came close to world cinema, and he started getting influenced by the best actors across the world.

Saharsh says that whenever he goes through a state of anxiety or stress, he only takes inspiration from these lines of Lord Krishna; “कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।”. He says that when the circumstances are not in your control, then everything should be left to God. We only have to do our duty with full honesty.

Saharsh gives advice to the aspirants who are eager to make their future in this field, that they should not follow their dreams just because of the fascination for cinema. They should make themselves aware of the reality of this field and its struggles. Try to know and understand the sacrifice, the hard work of the people working in this field and know their struggles before coming into this field. The truth of this field will help the aspirants to survive in it.