Ashish Vidyarthi’s filmography isn’t limited to Hindi movies alone. He has also acted in movies in a lot of other languages, like Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam. While the conversation today is all about boundaries blurring between different film industries, the actor had in fact looked in that direction way back in the day.

“Directors here (Bollywood) had started believing that I could only do one type of role (baddie). That’s when I started working in the South. I started afresh, even when I was a known person in the Hindi industry. It took me a few years in South, and I am happy I did it. Even at that time, I would tell myself, ‘Ashish, if you have the talent, you will come back’. It was only around 2013 or 2014 that I again started getting good work in Hindi,” he shares.

Vidyarthi doesn’t miss an opportunity to talk about the phase where he didn’t have work in hand and says that’s when the South cinema industry helped him. “I feel extremely grateful for the industries that have helped me remain alive. Had I not got work there, I wonder how I would have stayed alive,” shares the 60-year-old, who recently received praise for his role in the show Trial by Fire.

Praising the film industries down South, Vidyarthi says, “The passion in films down South is not just limited to people making them but also people who watch them. It’s the love and passion of the audience that make it thrive.”