Sudhanshu Pandey: My biggest inspiration has been ‘Life’ itself

Most of us are usually inspired by someone or the other to follow a certain professional path. For Sudhanshu Pandey, his life has been his best teacher. The Anupamaa actor shares that everything he went through so far, good and bad, helped him learn a lot.

“I think my biggest inspiration has been ‘Life’ itself. And being a part of this profession, being an actor, itself is an inspiration because I find this process of being an actor or enacting characters very, very fascinating and that’s what inspires me the most. I think the biggest and the best learning you get is from life and as you grow older, your inspiration becomes stronger,” he says.

Sudhanshu shares having never thought in terms of who is his role model because he does not like to define anything in life, as that is not the right approach.

“We can’t even define ourselves because we humans are very unpredictable. We are different people in different situations. So it’s very difficult to have a role model. But yes, I look up to a lot of people in life in terms of how certain actors and stars have been so grounded and humble, in spite of being where they are. For me who I really, sort of basically, take a leaf out of their lives, maybe somebody like Irrfan Khan or Rajinikanth, both as actors and as stars, have been very inspiring and sort of good lessons to be learned with the way their careers have shaped,” he adds.

Whether one needs to have a mentor in life or career for growth, he explains, “This is a very personal choice that you decide to have a mentor, who can guide you in your life and career. I don’t think I need guidance in anything else but spirituality. So I anchor myself through being spiritual, religious, practising my religion, having faith in my God and the Almighty, praying to Him. And that is where my anchor comes from as far as my personal life is concerned. And that is also where I find the seed of my own personal growth as well.”

On the professional front, he addresses whether there is benchmark for acting and adds, “I don’t think if I should call anything a benchmark, but there are a lot of such characters where I felt that this should be and there are certain people who set benchmarks as actors, but that is not to limit themselves as an actor. Also it is probably something they have excelled in doing or in playing in terms of character. So it is important to excel in a character portrayal when you do something, set a benchmark, but not for yourself but for everybody else, so that we keep growing, and keep getting inspired by each other’s work because the creative process is unlimited.”

Actors may be very good in their emotional scenes all the time, but what people forget is how the majority of actors go through personal emotional disturbances and at times need their space. Life is not easy for anyone.

“When I do emotional scenes, I don’t use glycerin. I’ve never used it. What helps me is the experiences in life that aids me in getting in touch with my conscience and when you’re in touch with your conscience you have that level of evolution within you. Then I think it becomes easier to touch upon a certain emotion within yourself and make sure that the audience also feels it because if you’re feeling it genuinely from inside, to show outside and connect with others. That’s what I do,” he says.

Actors often speak about how while doing emotional or dramatic scenes, they utilise their personal things to generate emotions. Reacting, he adds, “Well, I think the majority of actors go through personal emotional disturbances, not because they’re actors, but human beings. Each one of us goes through emotional disturbances in our lives. It’s a part and parcel of being alive and it is good to go through emotional disturbances because they help you get clarity, perspective and win over those emotions and become stronger and better human beings. So I personally feel that it’s a good thing that we go through so many ups and downs emotionally in life because that is a process of growth.”