From the narrow lanes of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur to the grand sets of Mumbai, Akshay Singh’s journey is a story of quiet determination and relentless pursuit of dreams. The desire to become a star, which took shape within him as a child, is what that has brought him today onto the Big Screen as an Actor Writer Director Producer.
Talking about his journey, he said, “Born in Ghazipur, a small town in Uttar Pradesh, and schooled in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, all the while living with a fire within to reach for the stars, or, so to say, to become a star myself, I reached Delhi for my college and training in performing arts and theatre to finally land in the Hindi film and television industry in Mumbai, in the big world of Bollywood.”
He shared that though initially it was not so easy for things to fall in place, he doesn’t like to call it a struggle. He said, “I do not believe in dwelling too much on what would ideally be called struggle because most of it is what everyone who sets out to achieve something on their own in a completely new world will surely face. From sharing a room with many people to being denied access to many professional doors, and I faced those too.”
Struggle or not, what makes his journey stand out was his decision to not take any help from his family. He said, “What I could say was truly a tough route for me was my own choice of not taking any help at all from my family, either financially or otherwise, even though they are very well established back in my hometown . For me it was always about my choice so my resources, and it was my aim and choice to create my niche completely on my own.”
Reflecting on those early days, which he fondly chooses to call as lessons of life, he said, “Life in the film and television industry initially was about sheer grit and hard work and my aim to grab every opportunity to make my mark in the world of films.”
“I sure had amazing learnings during those phases, which for me started with my journey as an actor. Where I did television shows and films, and every bit that my mind absorbed during this phase, where my appearance in front of the camera out of eagerness would often pull me behind the camera too and help me imbibe everything I could,” he added.
Today Akshay feels blessed to be receiving so much love, respect and support all across and said, “I think I am doing something right to have first received such International acclaim for my feature film Pinky Beauty Parlour in so many countries across the globe, to today my web series Naam Gum Jayega reaching people everywhere in such a big way.”
“I feel humbled, honoured, and more than that, hugely motivated to do so much more good work. I want to, and I surely will, act in, create, and direct many more stories and bring them out to the world,” he added.
He is full of gratitude and said, “When I see and feel the respect and adulation in the eyes and hearts of the people of my hometown solely for my work as a Filmmaker today… I do feel elated”
As he looks back at his initial years in Mumbai the time when he was slowly moving ahead from acting to writing to finally now becoming a multi faceted filmmaker, he shared that there came a point in his career when he knew he wanted more. He added, “As by then I had stories that I wanted to tell, but also I knew I wanted to be more in charge of my stories now, in all aspects. And that is when my feature film, ‘Pinky Beauty Parlour,’ began to take shape, and I not only turned film director with it but also took up the baton of producing it along with my co-producer, Bahnishikha Das, under our banner, Akshikha Entertainment.”
“Thereafter I began to dedicate myself to creating a world of our own where my aim became to make films and web series, not only as a director, writer, and producer but also as one of the lead actors in them, thereby slowly making our own mini film world. And will be coming to you all with many more Films and Series from this film world” Akshay concluded.
