Priyanshu Painyuli, best known for his lead role in the film Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, is happy with his journey in showbiz so far. This Delhi boy, who has also lived Bengaluru, started his career with theatre, and later moved to Mumbai to pursue his dreams.

The actor, who is known for shows like Mirzapur and Bang Baaja Baaraat, says, “I did theatre with Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel after shifting to Mumbai in 2010. I initially worked backstage for them for a long time and then Rajit directed my first play as an actor which was staged at Prithvi Theatre. Post that, I did a lot of plays, a majority of them were comedy plays.”

Ask Priyanshu, who starred opposite Taapsee Pannu in the sports film Rashmi Rocket, about his struggle in the industry and he says, “Since I come from a city like Bengaluru, my parents were really disappointed that none of their kids were in the IT sector. We all are in different fields. I only asked them to take care of my rent for one year in Mumbai. They were very supportive. I don’t call my journey a struggle, but it has been a process. I hadn’t come to Mumbai to be a one-film wonder. I wanted to be here for a long time and do quality work. The choice of our projects in the industry make us the actors we are.”

Ask him if he was choosy about the projects he wanted to do at the start of his career, and he says, “Yes, I was quite picky about what I did. My whole idea has been to do performance-oriented roles and that is why I said yes to a brief role in a film like Rock On 2. The minuses are there as we also have to earn our bread and butter, but for that, I did a few odd jobs here and there.”

Married to actress Vandanaa Joshii, Priyanshu says it helps to be married to someone from the same field. “We both are actors and we understand how things work in this industry,” he signs off.