Kamal Ghorui
Actor Vinod Suryavanshi, who gained recognition for his role in ‘Panchayat Season 3’, has also appeared in several Bollywood films including ‘Dream Girl’, ‘Thamma’, and ‘Jolly LLB 3’. In a recent interview, the actor opened up about his experience working alongside Akshay Kumar and shared some memorable behind-the-scenes moments.Speaking about their time on the sets of ‘Jolly LLB 3’, Vinod described Akshay as warm and engaging. “Working with Akshay in Jolly LLB 3 was great, he is a fun co-star. We used to keep joking a lot, even during the scenes; he used to give his lines to me, involve me in the scenes,” he said in an interview with Siddharth Kannan. He also recalled a lighthearted incident when Akshay expressed a craving for homemade food. “My wife didn’t believe at first that Akshay Kumar wanted to eat sabudana khichdi from our home, and I don’t blame her. Despite telling her again and again that he actually wanted to eat it, she still didn’t believe me. When I told her to put less spice and oil, that’s when she understood. She woke up at 4 am to cook that, and when I took it, he enjoyed eating it.”Addressing questions about Akshay’s working style, Vinod said, “He is very hard working, he is busy working a lot, he has his way to remember his lines. Akshay was very funny on set, and we were cordial but I cannot say we became good friends. Arshad Warsi and I didn’t speak much. He was busy doing his scenes; most of my scenes were with Akshay. Akshay and I used to play X and O. He would enquire about my family. We used to talk a lot about so many things.”Coming from modest beginnings, Vinod shared that his entry into the film industry was purely accidental. “I entered the film industry by mistake. A friend called me and said I could stand in a crowd during a shoot and earn Rs 500. I liked that I got breakfast, lunch, and Rs 500 by the end of the day. It felt like a better job than anything I had done before. So I decided to continue, and that’s how I started working as a junior artist. As a security guard, I used to earn RS 8,000 a month for 12-hour shifts. As a junior artist, I started earning Rs 10,000–12,000.”He also spoke candidly about the harsh treatment junior artists often face on sets. “No one speaks properly to junior artists. They are often abused and humiliated. Assistant directors would mistreat us. Big actors never humiliated us.” Recalling a painful memory, he added, “Once, I went to eat in someone’s room, and a senior person snatched my plate and asked who I was. When I said I was a junior artist, he told me to eat where the junior artists’ food was served. I said the food there was over, but he told me to speak to my coordinator and not eat there. He took away my plate. That hurt me deeply. That’s when I decided I had to do something in acting—maybe then I would at least get to sit in a room and eat peacefully.”
