Sharib Hashmi recalls everyone in the room clapping during one of his auditions: ‘But I didn’t get selected’

Actor Sharib Hashmi, who became a household name when he played Jayavant Kashinath ‘JK’ Talpade in The Family Man, recalled his struggle period and how he unsuccessfully auditioned for roles for three years.

Sharib said that for three years from 2008, he gave a lot of auditions but nothing worked out. He added that he must have given at least 500 auditions.

Talking to Mashable India, Sharib recalled an incident where everyone in the room clapped after his audition for a commercial but he did not end up getting the role. “I would also get shortlisted after auditions but I was never selected in the final list. In fact, once I auditioned for an anti-virus product ad and everyone who was standing there clapped for me. The casting director, Avni, said that it is the first time that those who are auditioning for the same role are clapping for someone. But I didn’t get selected for that either,” he said in Hindi.

Sharib, who quit his job to become an actor, said that he had to go back to working after the auditions did not yield any results. Having done only one advertisement and a short film in three years, he was drowning in debt and took up a job at the television channel UTV Bindass as Assistant Vice President – Programming. However, within three or four months of his joining, he got a call from Yash Raj Films casting director Shanoo Sharma, who was impressed by his short film Mehrooni and asked him to audition for Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

Also read | The Family Man actor Sharib Hashmi on being ignored during lull phase: ‘People felt I disappeared’

Sharib worked as an assistant director and writer for several years before he became an actor. His first film as a lead actor was the National Award-winning film Filmistaan, directed by Nitin Kakkar, which came out in 2012. He has also acted in films such as Batti Gul Meter Chalu and Ujda Chaman.