Taha Shah Badussha says he skipped meals at Cannes to focus on networking; recalls bribing watchmen with juice to get meeting with filmmakers

“I hustle. If you don’t say hello to me, I will come and do that. If 100 people know you, 95 will assume that you would have attitude after becoming successful, so they will never approach me with a script. So if you don’t find me, I will. I tell my team I want to meet everyone, build my own personal relationship.”

The actor revealed at Cannes, he was “distributing (his) card like a newcomer.” Taha recalled telling people, “‘Please call me, get in touch,’ I was going to all the stalls, meeting every film commissioner. It is not like they will help me get work tomorrow morning, but you never know. I don’t mind missing my sleep or food when it comes to work. When I was at Cannes, I didn’t eat. If you have to go for food, you have to take out one and a half to two hours, go out, order a meal, finish and come back. I either eat food or make contacts, I chose the latter. Food I can have later also.”

Taha Shah said his style of hustling hard hasn’t shifted, and revealed how there was a time he would bribe watchmen of important personalities he wanted to meet. “Earlier, when I would meet people, they would say, ‘He is desperate, he doesn’t leave you, he is obsessed.’ But now, I will do it a thousand times over, because I know what I am doing is right. When I didn’t have work, I’d meet the watchmen and say, ‘Whenever sir comes, please call me’. I’d buy him a juice, drink or food, I’d pay him back a certain way but request him to please let me know so that I quickly meet people. So why should I stop that? If I want to meet someone, I will try. Of course, now it has become easier to have a meeting, but I have no ego,” he added.