Additional income is a must to realise one’s acting dreams: Shiva Shukla

Hailing from a small-town Phaphund in Auraiya district, when Shiva Shukla expressed his desire to become an actor everyone around mocked him.

Hailing from a small-town Phaphund in Auraiya district, when Shiva Shukla expressed his desire to become an actor everyone around mocked him.

Shiva Shukla (Sourced)

Last seen in the web-film Sitapur: The City of Gangster, as friend of protagonist Ravi Sudha, the actor recalls, “I didn’t even have a TV at home and used to watch serials on a black & white set at a friend’s home. I used to tell people that one day they will get to see on the same screen, people laughed at me including family members.”

Telling more about his journey the UPite says, “During my school days I took part in a few plays. After clearing intermediate I joined theatre. A year later my father passed away that incident made me more adamant to prove myself. Initially, I was into mimicry and started going to places within the state for acts. So, from my town to Kanpur then Lucknow, Delhi and finally I reached Mumbai. Theatre was not paying me well but when I joined event companies. I was doing commercial plays and stand-up acts which gave me better money.”

He has been part of crime shows made for an UP-based channel. “I tried my hand in acting and production with the short film Sorry Mom (2017) which was based on de-addiction. It ran widely at de-addiction and rehabilitation centre. Then I got to shoot Rock Band Party with Govind Namdev ji but unfortunately it got shelved. Meanwhile, I launched my start-up which helped me sustain in the city. Now I believe that additional income is must to realise one’s acting dreams. It’s a very tough world out there.”