5 Times When Amit Sadh Surprised Us

 Underrated, understated,  gentle and affable, in spite of being  a part of  the  entertainment  industry for  19 years, Amit Sadh has  not been  a part of   any camp   in the  film industry. Nor has he  cleverly insinuated himself  into big banners .Or ingratiated  himself   to  big banners  and influential producers the way younger and less talented actors have.A self-made success-story  I have known  Amit  from  the  time he was dating actress Neeru Bajwa. When  they broke up Amit  was shattered. He  picked up the shattered  pieces of his heart  and rebuilt his life  and career. His work  has not been  consistently challenging. But whenever  given a part with  a heart and  bite, Amit has stood his ground.Here is looking at his 5  finest.

1.       Kai Po Che(2013) : While  Sushant Singh  Rajput’s cricketer  hero  Ishaan  Bhatt stole the show, Amit Sadh as  the champion   of Hindutva Om Shastri  was  a vivid picture  of  an adrift  youth finding a chimerical  anchoring  place  . Amit’s character   was the most  confused  and  conflicted   protagonist  of  Kai Po Che. It reflected  his own state of mind at time when his career was at a crossroad. Said Amit, “What ‘Kai Po Che’ did to my career is beyond expression. I owe the director Abhishek Kapoor this new lease of life.I kmow  Sushant  benefited  the most from  Kai Po Che . I don’t look at my success in Kai Po Che in comparison with the other actors in the film. I look at it from the perspective of what I was going through before ‘Kai Po Che’.Amit feels he has a long way to go. “There is a hunger within me to get better. I don’t think that anxiety about whether I’ve performed well or not will ever go away. I remember  seeing an interview of Johnny Depp with David Letterman where  he spoke about the hunger for excellence. I want to continue feeling that hunger.”

2.     Sarkar 3(2017): In  a zabardasti  ka sequel to  a sequel Sarkar 3  had  Amit Sadh confidently  playing   Mr Bachchan’s  volatile grandson  Chiku, son  of Abhishek Bachchan’s  character in   Sarkar  2. The last Sarkar film came 9 years ago. And the figure of Subhash Nagre is now threatened with obsolescence, if not complete irrelevance. “In order to understand politics you first need to get a hang of the politics in the family. It’s called Palace politics,” says Subhash Nagre, slurping the tea out of the plate while, please note, the grandson Shivaji alias  Chiku  alias Amit Sadh also slurps over his cuppa. Sarkaar 3 frames the familial feud in flames of fury. Amit Sadh comes into his own as Mr Bachchan’s uncontrollable grandson. Says Amit, “I’m grateful to Ram Gopal Varma  for  giving me   such a prominent role . Sharing  screen space with  Bachchan Saab  was nervewracking.  But I didn’t allow myself to remain awestruck when the camera rolled.  I believe  once ‘action’ starts you have to forget who is with you in the frame.  Just do what you have  to do.I am sure Bachchan  Saab felt the same when he shared screen space  with   the great  Dilip Kumar Saab in Shakti.”

3.     Guddu Rangeela(2015): Seldom does an actor get  a chance to play  a character  as wacked  out as  this. Amit Sadh  in and as Subhash Kapoor’s Guddu Rangeela was a riot. Says  Amit,  “The film was god-sent. Imagine, I got to play the title role in a film directed by Subhash Kapoor who made one my favourite films in recent times Jolly LLB. And I got to share screen space with one of my favourite actors Arshad Warsi. I couldn’t ask for more. This  film is  also memorable  because  I fractured my foot while shooting.”

4.     Breathe(2018, 2020) :  Cinema just didn’t give Amit Sadh  the space  and attention he deserved. In 2020 he made a  terrific  impact in Breathe 2  where he  played the troubled  out-of-control cop with remarkable restrain. Digital audiences , now exposed to discreet  acting, have zeroed in on Amit’s ability to say more by saying less. Amit Sadh as  a burnt-out cop—obviously inspired by the genre’s  swaggering prototype  from Hollywood…you know, the  cop who is grieving and drinking and sulking and abusing constantly? The last time  an actor in Bollywood pulled off such an act with credible flamboyance  was  Randeeep Hooda in Jannat 2.Amit Sadh  imparts  his own individual stamp on the part.

5.     Avrodh  The Siege  Within(2020): This  webseries further consolidated  Amit Sadh’s  position as  a solid reliable  digital  star whom the  ladies like to fantasize  about. He is now one of the most in-demand OTT stars ‘Avrodh’ is inspired from the September 2016 Uri attacks and is based on a chapter from Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh’s book ‘India’s Most Fearless’   Said Amit,  “I am grateful to Sameer Nair and Applause Entertainment  for giving me  a chance to play a true-life war hero. It  was  a dream come true.And I poured my heart  soul blood and sweat into it.” It showed.