WHO'S THAT GUY?

Actor Gurfateh Singh Pirzada talks about being a shy person, thriving in Mumbai, and what he looks for in a partner.

- Simi Kuriakose

If I told you that a random conversation Gurfateh Singh Pirzada had with Ananya Panday t Soho House Mumbai, as well as a meeting with director Colin D'Cunha, helped him bag the role of the very charming Neel Nair on Call Me Bae (2024), you will take no time in calling it a strange happenstance. I did too, after I read Pirzada's Instagram post about the same. In fact, the actor also pointed that out in said post: "Talk about the right place at the right time". But a late-night, long chat with Pirzada due to the time difference given the 27-yearold was taking a well-deserved break in the European city of Zürich, while I should have been readying myself for my daily dose of doom scrolling in Delhi had me thinking it is not just kismet after all. There is so much more that's propelled him to success-his mettle, determination, and the courage to never give up...even when that might have seemed like the easiest option there was.

Pirzada's perseverance is made clearer when he tells me that he can relate to Charles Bukowski's Bluebird lines of which are inked under his chest. It is testament to how he has guised his innate nature so as to blend in in an industry that thrives on influence, power, and the idolatry of actors and their craft: "Despite being tall as an 18-year-old, I was extremely timid and wasn't noticeable in any room because of my persona. My closest friends would wonder: 'How will he make it in this world? That is when I realised the need to create an alter ego. Now, I have this 'hidden self" in me...sort of like that bluebird', which wants to fly out at times. However, I will never allow it to as, I feel my alter ego has now taken over. It is a way of protecting myself."