Mumbai6 hours agoAuthor: Kiran Jain/Arunima Shukla
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From 2009 to 2012, the show 'Uttaran' used to air on Colors TV. Veer Singh Bundela's character was played by Nandish Singh Sandhu in this show. This time his story is in Struggle Story.
Nandish has been active in the acting field since 2007. After working in TV shows, he also made his place in films. He was also seen in Salman Khan's film 'Dabangg 2' and Hrithik Roshan's film 'Super 30'. In the last 3 years, he has also been seen on OTT.
Nandish's career also includes a chapter of struggle. Nandish, who hails from Rajasthan, went to Mumbai to study hotel management, but fate took such a turn that he was introduced to acting here.
He struggled a lot to make a name in this field. He also had to work in a call center to make ends meet. There came a time when Nandish did not have even a rupee left in his account. However, he kept fighting these circumstances and today he is making his own identity on OTT.
Read the story of Nandish Singh Sandhu's struggle in his own words…
wanted to become a pilot in the armed forces
Nandish was born in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, where his maternal grandparents lived. He was brought up in Dholpur, Rajasthan. He had a full family here, including his grandparents. Talking about his childhood days, Nandish said, 'After junior school, I studied further at the Military School in Dholpur. It was because of this that I also dreamt of becoming a pilot in the Armed Forces. I was very passionate about this, but due to some medical reasons, it could not happen.'
On coming to Mumbai, he worked at the Taj Hotel and then turned to modelling
Nandish further said that he did not want to live in a small place like Dholpur. His first dream could not be fulfilled, so he came to Mumbai with the desire to do something better. Talking about this journey, he said, 'I always wanted to go to Mumbai. This was a dream city for me.
During 12th, I developed an interest in hotel management. There was no better place than Mumbai to fulfill this dream, so I came here. I did my graduation in hotel management in Mumbai. Then I started working as a trainee in Taj Hotel.
After some time, I got bored of this job. I did not get the peace I was looking for in this job. Finally, I left this job after 7 months and started modeling on the advice of some people.
Nandish (in cream sherwani) worked in Salman Khan's film 'Dabangg 2'. In the film, he appeared in the song 'Daga Baaz Re'. Rashmi Desai was also seen with him in it.
Worked in a call center to earn a living
Nandish also had to struggle after coming to Mumbai. He said, 'I came to Mumbai around 2005. I also struggled after coming here. I worked hard with all my heart, but success was not achieved quickly. Initially, I lived in a 10X10 room in Mumbai with 4-5 friends. After living here for one and a half years, I left this place and shifted to another place.
I could not always ask for money from my family for my living. That is why I used to do modelling during the day and work in a call centre at night. My salary here was 9 thousand rupees, but I used to get around 7 thousand in hand. The first pay cheque I got in modelling was of 800 rupees. This was the first earning of my life, which I gave to my grandfather. He kept this cheque with him all his life.
Wandering from door to door for auditions all day, did not even have money for bus or auto
Nandish was also bitten by the acting bug because of modelling. He says about this, 'I started giving auditions while I was modelling. I was also working in a call centre. I did not have any godfather in the industry that I could get a break in just one audition.
I faced a lot of rejections before getting my first break. After giving an audition, everyone hopes that they will get work, but the opposite happens. Every time I get rejected saying that I am NOT FIT. These words started pricking me like a needle. However, with time I learnt to face rejections.
I had to struggle even to go for auditions. Actually, at that time I did not even have money for bus or auto fare. So I used to go for auditions by jostling in local trains. The struggle of the whole day did not end here. Then I had to go to the call center at night. Due to this I was not able to get proper sleep. Sometimes I could sleep for 3 hours and sometimes for 4 hours.
Nandish told that he had worked in a call center for 2 years.
TV show Uttaran gave her real identity and fame
Nandish told that after 3 years of struggle, he started getting work in TV shows in 2007. Although initially he was seen in 3 episodes of some shows and 4 episodes of some. He got his first big role in the TV show 'Kasturi' at the end of that year, but it would not be wrong to say that the show 'Uttaran' gave Nandish a major break.
About this, he said, 'Life became easier after getting work in the TV show 'Uttaran'. Money started coming in. Offers for good shows started coming in. Thanks to this show, I bought a house and a car.
However, after some time I realised that my growth had stopped due to being associated with this show for a long time. I wanted to do something better, but there was no option in sight. After the show Uttaran, I did 2-3 more TV shows, but after that I took a break from TV shows in 2015.
Taking a break led to a period of financial crisis
Nandish took a break from 2015 to 2017. He wanted to try his luck in films instead of TV shows. Due to this decision, there came a time when not even a single rupee was left in the account. Nandish says, 'After taking a break, I did not have to face any problem in 2016. The whole year passed easily. At this time, EMIs of house, car etc. had to be paid. The savings were good, so there was no problem. However, problems started coming from 2017.
There came a moment when not even a single rupee was left in the account. Many people also called the decision of taking a break wrong. Even parents raised the question that there are so many expenses, there is no work, how will everything be managed. These things of people started bothering me. At that time, there were only 1-2 friends who supported me and said that whatever I have done is right.
Being a TV actor became a curse
It was not that Nandish did not try to get work in these 2 years. The circumstances were such that wherever he went to ask for work, he had to face rejection. He says, 'The reason for not getting work according to my choice was that I was a TV actor. Every filmmaker was reluctant to give me work because I was a TV actor. Because of this, I missed out on so many good offers.
Though it was late, this decision got me the job I was looking for. With time, people started to think that if I can sit at home for 2 years with the desire to do something, then I can do anything. This action convinced people that I am very serious about my decision. It means that to create a new identity, I first erased the old identity.
Finally my hard work paid off and I got work in the film 'Super 30'.
Nandish played the role of Hrithik Roshan's elder brother in the film 'Super 30'.
Due to Covid, 3 films were stopped before they could be made
After the success of the film 'Super 30', Nandish felt that now his career was back on track, but then the Covid pandemic again put a stop to his career growth. Nandish said, 'After Super 30, I had signed 3 films, but then Covid engulfed the whole world. Those films were stopped even before they were made. Till date, their shooting has not started because the producers suffered a lot due to Covid.
I thought that after the success of 'Super 30', people in the industry would notice me. However, this did not happen. Due to the closure of the industry during Covid, everyone forgot me. This was bound to happen, because I was not seen anywhere during this period.
Married to TV actress Rashmi Desai in 2012, relationship broke in 3 years
Nandish married TV actress Rashmi Desai in 2012. Both of them first met on the sets of TV show 'Uttaran'. After being friends for some time, both of them decided to get married. Both of them got married in 2012. However, their relationship lasted only 3 years and both of them got divorced in 2015. Both of them had different opinions on getting divorced.
Nandish says that he has learnt a lot from all these things. He has moved forward by forgetting these things. As far as love is concerned, he is ready for it, but he has no intention of getting married right now.
This is the wedding photo of Rashmi and Nandish.
Nandish also talked about his upcoming projects. He said, 'I will be seen in the upcoming series 'Ziddi Girls', which will soon stream on Amazon Prime. I have 2 more series, 1 film which will be announced after some time.'