Shantanu Maheshwari On His Success Story, Working With Alia Bhatt, And His Latest Netflix Release…
Shantanu Maheshwari is a renowned Indian actor, dancer, choreographer, and television personality that rose to fame on the popular show Dil Dosti Dance.
Following his success on the loved dance series, Shantanu’s career soared to new heights as he participated in other reality shows like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi, where he showcased his versatility and ability to excel in various formats.
Alongside his successful dance career, the social media sensation ventured into acting and appeared in several television series and web series, which made the rounds online and made him one of the most loved and famous personalities today.
In 2022, Shantanu made his Bollywood debut with megastar Alia Bhatt in the film Gangubai Kathiawadi. Directed by the renowned Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the film won several awards at IIFA 2023 and Filmfare 2023. And now, with his latest Netflix launch, Tooth Pari, the star is showing us that there really isn’t anything that he cannot do.
Here, Bazaar Arabia‘s Anahita Ghai sits down with Shantanu during his first IIFA 2023 appearance to discuss everything from his success story, working with Alia Bhatt, and future projects…
Shantanu Maheshwari On His Success Story, Working With Alia Bhatt, And His Latest Netflix Release
Harper’s Bazaar Arabia (HBA): Why did you decide to get into acting? Could you share your success story?
Shantanu Maheshwari (SM): To be honest, I never thought I’ll be in front of camera acting. I always wanted to pursue choreography, and I think it happened by chance actually with the Dil Dosti Dance show. And once I got introduced to the acting world, I understood that this is where my true passion lies. And I started exploring it as a career option.
HBA: You debuted in the series Dil Dosti Dance. Could you share your experience working on the set?
SM: There are so many memories. All of us, the cast members, we started together and it was our first acting project. We were so fresh, raw and we were just out of college. I have to say the team were amazing, they were open to training us and were super supportive. So we learnt a lot and had a chance to explore everything. There was a lot of excitement of doing D3 because it was the first dance base fiction show in India.
HBA: What would you say are the biggest challenges of being an actor?
SM: Literally, it’s still going on. I mean, I still at times find myself adjusting to everything. Even with IIFA, I am taking it all in as it is my first time. So overall, it’s a learning process experience and it’s fun to understand this part of it and and I feel the more you learn the better get at it.
HBA: If not acting, what alternative career path would you have chosen?
SM: I would go into business for sure, if not acting or dancing.
HBA: You worked with Alia Bhatt in Gangubai. How was that experience and could you share how it was working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali?
SM: So I have always wanted to work with Sanjay sir. I mean, we all hear so many stories that he’s a taskmaster and all of that, but he is not. He was fantastic and super polite to me and had this amazing sense of humour. So I loved the whole experience, actually. His training process is not something like you sit and understand, it is more of a chat and discussion. He will ask you what your perception is and your input, and then we will go ahead with the scene. And Alia, I mean being such a megastar, has no tantrums, and she is so good and spontaneous in terms of performance; she helped me and made it easy.
HBA: Who is your dream costar? Someone you would really want to work with?
SM: Kate Winslet.
HBA: Since you’re a dancer. Who is your dream dance partner?
SM: Working with Alia Bhatt was amazing, definitely a dream.
HBA: Your series Tooth Pari released this year. How was the experience on set? Did you face any difficulties?
SM: Yeah, it was very different. I mean, we were shooting during COVID times, the second and third wave, so this was at a point we had to stop. And we had no idea. When are we? When are we going to resume? We were shooting in Calcutta, and we were in Mumbai. So all our dates went haywire. But in terms of, yes, it’s a different story and a completely different genre. It’s an experimental take on the vampire story and an Indianized version of it. So that’s why I joined and agreed to do this. In terms of the character, people have this misconception that playing the nice innocent boy is easy. But it really isn’t. I have done a similar boy role a few times now, and trying to differentiate it and keep the characters separate is extremely challenging and actually the most difficult thing to do.
HBA: What are you working on currently? Anything you can share?
SM: Yes, it’s already out there, but I am part of Auron Mein Kaha Dam Tha. Directed by Neeraj Pandey sir, the film has Tabu, Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Saiee M Manjrekar.
