Ravi Mahashabde
Looking at his journey Ravi said “If I look back and summarize, would say there have been two phases in my life so far…. ‘before Mumbai’ and “after Mumbai”. Before Mumbai, life was sorted. Born in a cultured Marathi Family in Indore with literature and music all over/ around, I was lucky that I grew up in a neighbourhood where there were all kinds of people. So many different characters that are still there in my memories. You don’t realise it then but they are a great help when it comes to acting, Then the National School of Drama happened. After spending Three Happy years at NSD, when I came to Mumbai, I realised that life suddenly was totally different. When you don’t get the kind of work you were looking for, it obviously was very frustrating. I was lucky to have friends and family around who believed in me and were very supportive. Finally, people from the industry noticed me and then work slowly started pouring in. Now when I look at all those years in hindsight, I realise those were the years that helped me refine my skills and also get a better understanding of life & helped me evolve as a better human being”.
He also spoke about the failures of his life. “Bombay Velvet was a chance that I took. It so happened that I got a call from good friend Mukesh Chhabra, the casting director of the film, who made it very clear in the very beginning that the role he was offering to me wasn’t that great but then, Anurag Kashyap was directing the film Who has been known for developing secondary characters into primary ones on the sets. So I took a chance. However things didn’t turn the way I expected them to but I guess, that’s what life is. As they say, when one door closes, another opens. I got ‘Madari‘ where I bagged the role of a primary character and people noticed and liked my performance. So I slowly let the ‘Bombay Velvet’ be a past, and the good part, I earned a few friends because of the film who are still there with me.
The pandemic gave him some major realisation. He explains, “We all are so busy planning our future that we tend to forget about our present and also the most important fact that how uncertain life is. COVID took so many near and dear ones away. I was even more worried because my parents, who are old and vulnerable now, stay with me. Fortunately, we didn’t catch any infection and survived. Lockdown was my chance to sit back and think about the way I was looking at life. What exactly am I running after and at what cost? Am I spending enough time with the people who matter the most to me? Those were the questions I was all the time surrounded with. Now I make it a point to maintain a balance between my two favourite things.. my family (that includes my friends as well) and my work. Now for me, happiness comes before success and fame. You can say that work-life balance, as well as the quality of life, are the two major realisations during COVID”.
Talking about his current projects, he says, “As an actor, I have been fortunate to be part of such amazing projects. One hand on the television, I am doing a show called ‘Thoda Sa Badal Thoda SaPaani’ and I have just finished shooting for a web series which will be out in December. I have another show which is like a dream come true for me because it is being helmed by Hansal Mehta. And few more which are in pre-production stages so all in all as an actor, the variation that i am getting to portray on all platforms of entertainment is keeping me happy and excited,” he concludes
