Actor Sundeep Kishan made his debut in Hindi cinema with Shor In The City (2011), but was not seen again in any Hindi projects until 2019 in the Manoj-Bajpayee-starrer series The Family Man. Now gearing up for the third season of the series as well as the directorial debut of actor-politician Vijay’s son Jason Sanjay, the actor recalls his early days in Bollywood.

“Post Shor In The City, I had signed two Hindi films with reputed production houses and filmmakers. I was very excited,” he recalls, adding, “I sat here (in Mumbai) for two years doing nothing.”

Though the 37-year-old had one Tamil and two Telugu films to his credit, he turned down other projects to focus on the two Hindi films: “(But) neither of them happened with me and it was given the last second to someone else.”

That was when the actor decided to “stay true to my southern roots” and starred in Routine Love Story (2012), Ra Ra Krishnayya (2014), A1 Express (2021), and Michael (2023), to name a few.

Ask him if he has become weary of signing a Hindi film now, and Kishan shares, “No, that’s not fair to say... So many of my friends started off with me, like Rajkummar Rao who was doing LSD (2010). Kartik Aaryan did Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011). So everybody who’s held on, it’s all worked fantastically. But I’d like to stay true to my identity.”

Now, his focus is on doing projects that come organically from a filmmaker whom he loves and in the language that he wants to do.

“Otherwise, I’m more than happy making a film which I believe will be a superb experience for the audience to watch in my language and bring it (to Hindi cinema) just like how my senior counterparts are doing,” he signs off.