"I never performed at school or college." Rohiet Nair

Rohiet Nair is not a new name for most Bangaloreans, and now with his dancing skills and a charming smile, the ‘Station’ star is all set for his Kollywood debut. The dancer-turned-actor gets chatty, as he shares his journey, his love for dance and more.. 

1. Tell us about Rohiet the “Dancer”:

I grew up watching Michael Jackson, Govinda and Javed Jaffery, doing moon walk and break dancing. Dance happened because I was a very reserved child due to my stammering problem, so dance came as my saviour, it was the only way I could express what I felt. And incidentally I never ever performed at school or in college

2. Walking the Ramp:

With dance happened modelling with a few small time shows around. I participated in a competition called Konkan Showers, organised by Catholic club and my form was submitted by my friend Sridhar Rao, without my knowledge. I won the 1st runner up in this competition and that’s how modelling happened. I walked the ramp for Prasad Bidappa Rahul Dev Shetty. I have worked in worked for several advertisements with Radhika pandit, Diganth and also with super model Netra Raghuraman.

3. How did the movie “Station” happen?

With my stint in modelling I started to love acting. Saad Khan who had been an assistant to director Ashutosh Gowirakar told me of his interest in starting acting classes in Bangalore. And along with this workshop, I auditioned for his movie Station. I got my dialogues in hand and practised for say half an hour and said to myself that this is what I always wanted so it's now or never and walked into the room, still tensed up, mustered up enough courage and did what I was supposed to do. And surprisingly, the next day I got a call from Saad Khan and that changed everything for me. I was informed that I have been selected to do the negative lead in the movie and my happiness knew no bounds.

   

4. Life after station:

With station released all over India I was on cloud nine, that moment when I saw myself on screen for the first time I couldn't help but tears rolled down my cheeks, and I knew then that this was just the beginning. I was so excited that in the 2 weeks that ‘Station’ ran in cinemas in Bangalore I watched the movie 26 times.

5. More movies in the bag?

After station, one day got a call from Sumanth Radhakrishna, who is a Chennai based director. He had seen Station and was eager to cast me in his production titled, “Sadhuram”. I read the script and immediately called him back and said “I'll do the movie”. The best part was that before reading the script I didn't ask him what role I would be playing nor did he tell me what role I would play...which helped me read the script with an open mind and no expectations, and Luck has it that I play the protagonist in the film. Sadhuram is scheduled for release on 27th March 2015

6. Whom do you idolise?

As an artist and actor, my idol has an always will be the legend the super star Mr Amitabh Bachchan. I've grown up watching his on movies.

7. Who is your pillar of support?

My pillar of support has and I know for a fact always will be my wife Sophia, because she's stood by me through my ups and downs always, no matter what.

8. What is your message to young performers out there?

If I can do it, then anyone can. But what I have noticed with the new breed of dancers, is that are so full of themselves that they forget the difference between a senior and a junior and they let their ego and success go to their head, which eventually brings them down faster than they can imagine. So work hard but, “do not let success ride you, you should ride success.”