Interview: Luv Sinha
By: Arora Rai
Frequently known for its de facto sense of nepotism, Bollywood has a long-standing tradition of keeping things “in the family,” with familial dynasties such as the Kapoors and Bachchans being living proof of a long lineage of actors hailing from one family name.
Of course, with nepotism comes expectations, with the newer generations of actors expected to either keep pace or exceed the qualitative work of their grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts and elder siblings.
This weekend, Bollywood audiences will be introduced to the latest person who will represent his family’s name to a new generation of movie fans, as Luv Sinha makes his big-screen debut in Sadiyaan.
The son of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, Luv Sinha informed the press he hopes to make his own mark in Bollywood, doing all he can to avoid being a copycat of his father’s acting style.
“I am inspired by him. He is a great actor … but I do not want to be known as his photocopy,” Luv Sinha told the press last week as he promoted Sadiyaan. “What is the need of the photocopy when the original is already there?”
He may be respecting his father in not photocopying the elder’s acting style, but Luv Sinha must be mindfully considerate of the film legends who surrounded him on set who themselves were origins of Bollywood’s dynastic ways, including Hema Malini, Rekha and Rishi Kapoor.
Then again, Luv Sinha appears to have been raised well, as the debutant 26-year-old actor knows he has to put in his fair share of work before he can even be considered to strike a match and hold it to his superiors in Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini, Rekha and Rishi Kapoor.
“There is no golden ticket to success in Bollywood,” he informed the press of how he believes his father’s name does not necessarily translate into audiences filling the seats to watch his films. “People will doubt you in the beginning. Opposition is going to be there, but this is what pushes me to do better. I had a creative bent of mind since school days.”
It is that creative bent that Luv Sinha (who has been hailed in some corners as India’s answer to the rebelliously cool James Dean) hopes will flourish just as his career does. To that end, he firmly believes his career is only just beginning with Sadiyaan.
“Sadiyaan is just the start. It is not the Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai of Luv Sinha’s life,” the debutant actor excitedly told the press. “That was a home production. Here I am working with an outside banner. This is my own journey. This is not all I can do; I have saved some for next time.”
Until next time comes, Luv Sinha’s journey in Raj Kanwar’s Sadiyaan is apparently quite the positive one, despite its heavy subject matter.
“The story begins during the time of Partition. The ’70s were a time when India was still a young nation and the memories of Partition fresh,” Luv Sinha explained to the press. “The film is not a political drama and has a positive approach. Sadiyaan is a family drama that touches on the relationship between the two nations.”
With the positive, heartfelt drama of families in the context of Partition, Luv Sinha hopes his debut performance in Sadiyaan will help establish him as an elite actor and distinguish him from his family name while also still honoring it.
Sadiyaan opens in theaters on April 2nd.
(Editor’s Note: Press Trust of India and India Express contributed to this story.)
