Daily Times

Sidharth Malhotra recently completed a decade in the film industry. The actor was launched by Karan Johar in his 2012 directorial Student of the Year, which also marked the debut of his co-stars Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. Sidharth has revealed that Student of the Year was not supposed to be his debut film, and instead, he was due to be launched in a film by director Anubhav Sinha.

Sidharth Malhotra had successfully auditioned for a film to be directed by Anubhav Sinha, which was also supposed to launch two more actors with him. However, the film was shelved. Sidharth went on to work as an assistant director to Karan Johar on the 2010 film My Name Is Khan, before successfully landing a role in his next directorial Student of the Year.

In a recent interview, Sidharth was asked about reports that Madhur Bhandarkar’s 2008 film, which starred Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut among others, was supposed to be his debut. While he denied the reports, he opened up about the project that was shelved.

He told Pinkvilla, “The film wasn’t Fashion, but he (Anubhav Sinha) was the director who was supposed to launch me and two other actors. That was a film I auditioned for in New Delhi, and I had flown to Bombay to audition again. So a couple of rounds of audition and they said that we will train. At that time, Adlabs Studio was there, and they were pumping in money to launch actors and new talent. So it was a very great initiative. It took eight months to a year, but for various reasons, it never took off.”

Sidharth said he spent a year waiting for the film while attending acting, dancing workshops, and working on his physique before he realised it wasn’t going to happen and told the team in a meeting that he is ending the contract. Asked if he has spoken to Anubhav since then, or spoken to him about a potential collaboration, the actor said they have not had a chance to do that.

He said, “I have not met him. I have not spoken to him after that. I’ve seen his films recently. He met me when I was an AD on My Name Is Khan, because he had come to meet Shah Rukh sir, but we haven’t met in recent times for a feature as yet. So maybe, let’s see.”

Sidharth is currently preparing for the release of his next film Thank God, in which he stars alongside Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on October 25.

He also has Yodha with Raashi Khanna and Disha Patani, and Mission Majnu with Rashmika Mandanna in the pipeline.