16-year-old Rudhraksh Jaiswal hadn’t quite taken this idiosyncrasy of life too seriously until, as a fifth-grader at Billabong International School, life decided to turn this state-level swimmer into the youngest of the five Pandavas on-screen on primetime television.
Quick Rewind
It all started seven years ago with one phone call for an ad audition, that would go on to change this talented teenager’s life. Despite being more interested in swimming at the time, Rudhraksh ended up giving in to his mother’s appeals to “give it a shot” and “that’s how I went for my first audition. I was quite nervous, scared even while I gave my audition and didn’t have a clue that there was a whole selection process involved. A lot of struggle followed after that first time, until I got my first role as Sahadeva in Star Plus’ Mahabharat,” Rudhraksh tells MensXP.
His mother who was chanting prayers in the waiting room the whole time was stoked when he got the role. His friends were excited for him as well, but it was the love and fame that followed his big break which finally made Rudhraksh see the impact he was having on his audience.
Lights, Camera, Action!
With this first tryst with acting and the growing popularity of the show, Rudhraksh found himself getting more and more drawn towards the craft. He began enjoying the process so much that he eventually gave up swimming altogether. Not only that, Rudhraksh “(I) didn’t even mind the struggle that followed over the next couple of years. I gave auditions every chance I got, be it for ads or films, and eventually Dhaka (now Extraction) happened.”*
Conditions Apply*
But you see there is another quirk of life that Rudhraksh discovered first hand - nothing in this life that’s worth having will come easy. Which is exactly why Rudhraksh can never forget all the tough times that he and his family had to go through to arrive at this moment of glory.
Hailing from a middle-class family, with a mum who is a homemaker and a dad who works in the banking sector, stepping into the industry came with its own set of challenges. Being an outsider didn’t help either. Rudhraksh recalls, “I am an outsider, so making space in the industry is extremely tough. We had our share of difficult times too. When we had to audition a lot we sometimes didn’t have enough money to go for all those auditions. We faced many problems.”
Wildest Dreams Do Come True
Despite everything else that was going on in his life, never had Rudhraksh imagined that he would get to live his dream so early on in this journey. It was casting director Jess Joseph whom Rudhraksh credits for the opportunity of landing a prominent role in a film starring Chris Hemsworth.
“I couldn’t believe my ears when director Sam Hargrave told me I’d be sharing screen space with Chris Hemsworth. My heart skipped a beat at the news, and it was a dream come true.”
Befriending Thor In Real Life
But the best day of his life came when Chris came on the set for the first time. On a sunny day, with trance music playing in the background, Rudhraksh had the most filmy first sighting of Chris through a tent gate while he was getting his make-up check done.
“The first thing I noticed was how damn tall he is, and those muscles. You cannot forget those once you’ve seen them, they are huge! I went up to him and greeted him with the iconic dialogue ‘bring me Thanos’ and got a bear hug in return.”
Rudhraksh swears that Chris is a gem of a person and despite being such a mega-celebrity, he is extremely down to earth and easy-going. “He has helped me at each and every stage, be it before, during or even after the shoot. During our script reading sessions, he would teach me stuff about voice modulation, dialogue delivery, the importance of pauses and some acting tips as well.”