Akhilendra Mishra could have been a lecturer

Mumbai, June 23  Actor Akhilendra Mishra, best known for essaying the role of Kroor Singh in the 1990s TV show “Chandrakanta”, says he would have probably been a lecturer had he not mustered up courage to pursue acting.

Hailing from Bihar, it wasn’t easy for him, since his parents were not confident about his potential as an actor.

Akhilendra said his mother always wanted him to be an engineer. He did not want to disappoint her, so he tried to get into engineering colleges but wasn’t successful. He then opted to do Bachelors in Science with Physics Honours and graduated with flying colours. He later went on to do Masters in Science.

He shared: “During those days, anyone who scored well in BSc as well as MSc, was sent an appointment letter to be a lecturer in the university. And if at all I received one, I knew my parents would have wanted me to take up the position but I had other plans. So I had to think of a way to steer the wheel of my own career.”

Akhilendra shared that he used to do small plays back in his village and that always got him excited. He later joined a group and they went to different cities to perform. That’s when he realised that if not an engineer, he could definitely become an actor. But the task was to convince his parents.

Remembering those days, he shared: “We as children had utmost respect for our parents, especially our father. We never went to our fathers directly to ask them for anything. It was always through our mothers. I used to go to her everyday saying that I wanted to try my hand at acting but she used to shoo me away saying that if I couldn’t become an engineer, how would it be possible for me to become an actor. After receiving no positive reply from her, I mustered up the courage and went up to my father and asked him directly. And to everyone’s surprise, he allowed me. I guess he didn’t know things would go so far.”

Akhilendra later joined an acting institute from where his journey took off.

He went on to bag roles in movies like “Sarfarosh”, “Lagaan” and “Kaabil”.

He also appeared as Ravana is Anand Sagar’s 2008 show “Ramayan”, which is currently being aired on Dangal TV.