‘Apna time aa gaya’

After several rejections, walk-in auditions and a six-year-long wait for his chance in the spotlight, Siddhant Chaturvedi, the breakout star of Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, is exactly where he always wanted to be.

As MC Sher, a sympathetic mentor to Ranveer Singh’s budding rapper Murad, Siddhant has won over critics and the audiences with his charismatic screen presence and confident acting.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is one of the admirers of his performance and recently sent a handwritten letter and a bouquet of flowers to Siddhant.

The 25-year-old actor, who studied to become a chartered accountant like his father but left it midway to pursue a career in Bollywood, says he started trying his luck at the age of 19.
“I struggled for six years and there were many rejections and low points along the way. I started from the bottom. But I always had this raging ambition to go out there and prove myself with that one perfect opportunity.

“I always used to think ‘ki apna time kab ayega’. And as luck would have it, Zoya had been looking for MC Sher for a year and I happened to be there at the right time,” Siddhant told PTI in an interview.
Zoya spotted Siddhant just days before the film’s shooting while he was dancing at the success party of Excel-produced Amazon show Inside Edge, where he played the role of a rookie fast bowler.