Vijayendra Kumeria on the challenges of making it in show business: There is glamour, but to maintain it, you must work hard and overcome failures

You can probably guess how Vijayendra Kumeria got the acting bug. Everything thanks to his late grandmother, who was a Hindi film buff with a large number of classics in her collection.

“I’ve seen a lot of movies since my grandmother was a huge movie fan. Her list of classic Hindi films is a veritable gold mine”. He admits, “She used to watch them a lot, along with the new releases, and she’d make sure we kids watched them too.”
Kumeria saw Khuda Gawa for the first time on the big screen. “I’ve always been an Amitabh Bachchan fan, so seeing him on the big screen was a memorable experience… In reality, it was through watching movies, especially those that my grandmother forced us to watch, that I developed an aptitude for acting. I used to memorise my favourite lines and act them out in front of the mirror. That, I believe, subconsciously piqued my interest. Today, I’m the happiest when I’m delivering dialogues for my audience in front of the camera,” he continues.

Before entering the industry, most people have a different image in mind, but things change once they are a part of it. “I, too, wanted it to be all glitz and glitter and that it would be a simple life, but it’s been quite the opposite. “There is glamour, but there is also a lot of hard work, determination, and mistakes that you must face to become a good actor,” he says.

Despite the difficulties, Kumeria believes that pursuing acting as a profession is the best choice he has ever taken. “At the end of the day, I’m doing something I really enjoy. This career provides job satisfaction. I am eternally thankful and fortunate to be receiving decent jobs and being able to support myself.