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National Award-winning Bollywood actor had no money to celebrate victory, was afraid cops will be called at his party

While Shah Rukh Khan took three decades to win his first National Film Award, this actor announced his arrival in the film industry with a National Award victory immediately. But the struggle began afterwards.

Ashish Vidyarthi and Kader Khan. (Express Archive)

Actor Ashish Vidyarthi has been a fixture in films across India for decades. A graduate of the National School of Drama, he got his start in Delhi’s theatre scene, before moving to Mumbai to try his luck out in the films. He broke out not long afterwards, with an acclaimed performance in Govind Nihalani’s Drohkaal. Ashish won a National Film Award for his performance, but was still struggling to make ends meet when Nihalani told him to throw a party in celebration of his success. Ashish said in a new interview that he had no idea how to pay for the party, as he was living on rent and had two parents to look after. He imagined the police being called on him.

Chatting with Siddharth Kannan, Ashish recalled, “When I won the National Award, Govind ji told me to book Mainland China for a party. This was a restaurant I’d never set foot in, and had only seen from the outside. I had no idea how I could afford to ‘book’ it for a party. The fact is, I had no money. But I went there with my friend, and he told me not to worry and that we’d work something out.”

Also read – Inside Ashish Vidyarthi’s home filled with furniture he bought while shooting with Rajinikanth, plates from Assam and mats from Jodhpur

He continued, “I was literally holding a glass of water with some lime in it, because I didn’t want to drink vodka and increase the bill. I was having vegetarian food. But even the teetotallers wanted to drink that day. Even the vegetarians wanted to have meat. Not a single person said ‘sorry, can’t make it’. It was one of the scariest days for me. I went to Govind ji, and quietly told him my concerns. ‘Will I have to clean dishes here all my life? Will the cops be called?'”

But, to his relief, the filmmaker said that he was footing the bill for the party. “When you’re fully broke, when you don’t have a single penny in your pocket, and when you’re in a privileged environment, that is the catch of the industry,” he said. Ashish said that even after winning the National Award, his primary concern his family, and providing for his parents. He did whatever work he was offered, and, for several years, did B-grade movies starring Mithun Chakraborty only because they paid the bills. He was recently seen in Prime Video’s The Traitors, and has also cultivated a large following on social media through his food vlogs.

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