The turnaround

His concern at the moment is what he will wear for the film’s premiere in Mumbai in the last week of July. Thirteen-year-old Harsh Mayar,who won the National Award for a sterling performance in I Am Kalam,already has the makings of a star. He’s travelled in a Bentley and a BMW wearing a black suit when he was at Amsterdam for the Cinekid Film Festival. And now he has trained his sights on Bollywood. Mayar,who played Chhotu,a boy who waits tables at a dhaba and is inspired to educate himself after watching former President Kalam’s speech on television,is slowly becoming aware of his success and cannot hide his excitement. “It’s only when Gulshan-uncle (Gulshan Grover,who is also in the film) called to congratulate me that the importance of the National Award sunk in. Otherwise,I was not even aware that the award existed,” said the young actor from New Delhi.

But Harsh doesn’t agree that he just got lucky and was selected for the film. The actor from an extremely modest household,whose father rents out shamianas, harboured ambitions of becoming an actor since he was very young. Thanks to his maternal uncle,he attended acting workshops at the Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi during his school vacations. “When I went to audition for I Am Kalam two years ago,my hand was swollen from an injury,the auditions were already over and a child had been selected for the part. But when Nila Madhab Panda-sir,the director of the film,spoke to me he immediately decided to cast me,” said the young actor,a class VIII student of Yogi Arvind Sarvoday Bal Vidyalaya,Delhi.

But the attention at various international film festivals and winning the award has given Harsh all the more reason to chase his dreams of becoming a Bollywood star. All set to participate in reality shows and do more films,the teenager was disappointed when he couldn’t make it to the finals of the reality show Dance India Dance,but he has Panda’s next film to look forward to. “He’s writing the script and has promised me a stellar role. I have to complete my education but at the same time I also want to work,” Harsh said.