Bollywood actor, Ashish Vidyarthi, could well be re-living his own real life tale on screen. Even though he has close to 200 films to his credit in the last 25 years, he is still craving for something big on screen. With ''Bollywood Diaries'', he is enacting the part of a main protagonist, Vishnu, who finds his true calling in the profession of being an actor, though only after retiring as a government servant.
For the actor who has been around since 1991, it has been one long journey which has seen him dabbling across various genres.
"Ashishji has seen a very tough phase in his career that involved a long period of struggle. He is such a known and wonderful actor but still so grounded. When he walks into the sets, he doesn't try to be a Naseeruddin Shah or an Amitabh Bachchan. He stays on to be truly humble even after doing 200 odd films," says director, K.D Satyam. This, despite the fact that he has an experience of working in films across languages like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Odia and English.
"The best part about him is that I see him as my character Vishnu," Satyam continues, "Even in real life, he is still not an out and out urban guy. He has that craving to do something extraordinary. He is known for his versatility but as an actor, he believes that the best is yet to come."
''I am particularly impressed by Ashish's story. It is wonderful and very poignant. Through him, you feel the tragedy and absurdity of the dreams that countless people like Vishnu carry in their hearts through the years," said film director, Sudhir Mishra.
The film is set to release on Friday.