Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; May 4, 2014)

Mohit Marwah, 27, has currently moved in with his mama Anil Kapoor, since fire in his AC destroyed his room over a fortnight back. He is focused and looks up to his father for being self-made and his mama Anil for his dedication. Over an hour-long conversation, ahead of his debut film Fugly, he talks about his three famous mamas, his bond with cousin Arjun Kapoor and why he loves his brother Akshay the most in the world. Excerpts:

Talk about your mamas Boney, Anil and Sanjay Kapoor.
Boney mamu is generous, Anil mamu is focused towards his work and Sanjay mamu is someone you hang out with and learn how to live your life from. I would go to Boney mamu for work, to Anil mamu to learn acting from and Sanjay mamu to celebrate with. Boney mamu is a father figure to me. Anil mamu is a great inspiration. He is a great actor with incredible enthusiasm. Sanjay mamu has made me understand how to network.

Was acting your obvious choice?
I am a Delhi Punjabi boy. My grandfather came to India from Peshawar during Partition. He sold everything he had, put all the money in his pocket and came on a plane. Unfortunately, when he got off the plane, he forgot to take off that jacket with the money and thus, he landed with no money. He started by selling newspapers and eggs at Red Fort to make a living. My dad is self-made. He dabbled in a lot of businesses before he built the Marwah Studios at Noida Film City. When he was building the studio, I remember him coming home at 2 am and then again leaving to work at 6 am. In the first 15 years of my life, I don’t remember going with my father for dinners and lunches at all, as he was really busy trying to set up the studio and put all his money apart from his hard work into it. He has been my inspiration. I grew up seeing films like Dil Se being shot at our studio. I would go to Anil mamu’s set as a kid. Every time Sanjay mamu came to Delhi, he would say, ‘Darling, mehnat kar, tu actor ban jayega.’ Anil mamu, too, always encouraged me, but he also told me, ‘You have to work for it and it’s not that you come to Mumbai and someone makes a film for you.’ I never had to go and tell my parents that I wanted to be an actor as that became obvious to them. Since my mom Reena Marwah had her family in Mumbai, as kids we would come to Mumbai every summer vacation. There was never a year when I would not have come twice to Mumbai for a holiday. But, right from the beginning, it was always ingrained in me that you have to go and earn your own bread and that you have to be self- made. Acting is not a business where your father sets it up and you go run it, you need to go and sell yourself. And you have already finished your journey if someone gives it to you on a platter. I was inclined to acting right from school. After school, I did a one-year filmmaking course from the Asian Film Academy and also finished my graduation by correspondence and then came to Mumbai. I came here and found out that Vikram Bhatt was making a film. I went to meet him and after grilling me for half an hour, he said, ‘Join from tomorrow.’ It was so abrupt and I had not gone prepared for that, but I decided to take the plunge and shifted to Mumbai to assist him. I assisted him on three films, but then knew that I wanted to be an actor. I had not taken any training in acting and decided to do a two-year course in Lee Strasberg in New York. New York was a game changer for me and I grew up and became stronger as a person. I came back to Mumbai, was very confused for the first six months. But I kept meeting casting directors and every casting director knew that there is a boy called Mohit Marwah from Delhi. After two years of auditioning and facing rejections, I finally got the lead role in Fugly. That’s the best feeling I had, to know that I had got my first break totally on my own.

Amongst your cousins, who are you closest to?
Rhea and me stayed for a year-and-a half in New York together and at that time, we were really close. I am very close to Arjun. Both of us wanted to be actors and it did not come easy for both of us. He wanted to get work outside his father and I too wanted to make it on my own and we were both struggling. We both have a similar journey and are similar in the way that we both think a lot. We are both emotional, hang out together and have the same group of friends. My heart goes out to him due to the stuff he has gone through. He is a guy straight from the heart and he is a very endearing person. Every time I have gone to him and it is in his capacity, it is a given that if he can do it, it will be done. He was already an actor when I started. I was struggling to get a film and he had lost his mother and we were there for each other. I remember the day he got Ishaqzaade, it was the biggest day for him and he was really excited. He called me excitedly, but for some reason I was losing my shit that day and was cranky. He heard me fully and consoled me without sharing with me his big news. He had got the film and it had been the biggest moment of his life and yet, because I was upset at that time he chose not to tell me. He told me the next day. He suppressed his own happiness to help me out. Of course, the next day itself, I came to Mumbai and partied with him at Sanjay mamu's house. I hugged him and got emotional and was very proud of him that day.

Who are you most attached to in the world?
My younger brother Akshay, who is working with my dad and running the studio and has started his own management institute in Noida. While we shared a common room while growing up, we weren’t really close. But when I was in Class VIII, I had this girlfriend from the American School, who was instrumental in bringing me close to him. We understand each other. He will know from my messages what mood I am in. Every time he is taking a big decision, he will call me and take my advice, even though he doesn’t need to. He likes my independent nature and how I have gone out to make it on my own. Somewhere, I know that he has compromised for me so that one of us could stay back with our parents in Delhi. I don’t like to upset my parents, so, Akshay is also my emotional anchor.

Fugly’s release is round the corner. Are you excited?
Initially, my parents never said it, but they were not really excited about me leaving the house and Delhi, and coming to Mumbai to become an actor. They are now happy, but, initially, I would get calls from my dad, as they missed me and they had managed their minds to allow me to go, but their hearts wanted me back in Delhi. I really value wanting to make it on my own. I also feel scared that if things don’t work out, what will I do as I have come here with so much confidence. Even though I am always very positive like my dad, my lowest time was when I was auditioning for two years and still not getting a film. Everybody around me was doing very well. I am now waiting for my film to do well to kick-start my career, so that I can go and celebrate with my entire family in Delhi who told my dad, ‘Sandeep, has your son gone mad? What will he do in Mumbai?’