00:00I was always a bit of an outsider.
00:01I never thought I had a chance in movies.
00:03My dad was like,
00:04I'm not going to do anything for you.
00:05I'm not going to call in favours.
00:06I'm not going to get you opportunities.
00:08Sir, myself Gopi Hrishnan.
00:10Coming from...
00:10I don't think you belong here.
00:24Rest, I came empty handed.
00:27I have to go empty handed, right?
00:30Let's go.
00:37In this city,
00:38where else can you find Biriyani Control?
01:00From the South to Bollywood,
01:02what do you think is that one thing that
01:05enabled you to find your calling?
01:08I think it's the constant searching, right?
01:11It's...
01:12So I grew up
01:13around all these kids from business families.
01:16I was always a bit of an outsider
01:17because we moved to Chennai.
01:20I wasn't born there.
01:22So to kind of fit in,
01:23so I started reading like, you know,
01:25like a lot of books.
01:26And I was like,
01:27So I started reading like, you know,
01:30business line and financial times and stuff
01:32because invariably,
01:33there would be some discussion.
01:35I never thought I had a chance in movies
01:37because traditionally,
01:39there was no sort of concept
01:40of second generation actors having made it.
01:43So I was like, that is not an option.
01:44And I kept trying to stay as far away as possible
01:47because I had it like fixed in my head
01:48that anything I do in movies
01:49is going to be such a great comparison with my dad.
01:53And like, I would definitely ruin his name or something
01:56because he's had such a stellar reputation
01:58as not just an actor,
01:59just how he conducts himself.
02:00And I was like,
02:01I don't want to be that kid who messes it up.
02:04But I think working nine to five,
02:07it was sort of mundane.
02:09It was sort of,
02:10I wasn't really motivated to go to work.
02:12But when I would do these like short films
02:14with some close friends,
02:16it never felt like work.
02:17I was adding care if I slept,
02:19adding care if I ate.
02:21So I think that's when I realized
02:22my calling has to be in cinema,
02:24irrespective of what I do.
02:26I want to be around a film set.
02:28My biggest fear was that, you know,
02:29I would turn 40 and like regret not having tried.
02:33How did you overcome the fear of that comparison?
02:37I think my parents, especially my father,
02:40he's like, I can protect you from anything else.
02:42But anything that you,
02:43I can't come and act for you.
02:45So whatever you do on screen,
02:46you're going to get, you know,
02:48criticized.
02:49There'll be brickbats.
02:50They will try to bring you down,
02:51especially even more so because
02:53you're my son or whatever.
02:55And I don't know how to protect you.
02:57It's not like it still doesn't bother me.
02:58Like there are,
03:00there is always a faction of people,
03:01no matter what I do,
03:04they will still say,
03:04oh, it's only because of your dad,
03:07you know, because of your lineage.
03:09Or else you would never be here
03:10or things like that.
03:11And I still read and it still irks me.
03:14But what I've realized is,
03:17I love what I do, you know,
03:19and no one can take that away from me.
03:22So you can say all that you want.
03:24I'm going to go in every day,
03:26give it my hundred percent
03:28and really enjoy what I do.
03:29So I had that big, like,
03:31sort of breakdown moment where,
03:32when I told my folks,
03:33and this is what I want to do.
03:35And I was like,
03:36I am not happy doing what I'm doing.
03:38And I want to give this a shot.
03:39I know it's like life changing,
03:40but this is what I want to do.
03:43But then my dad was like,
03:45I'm not going to do anything for you.
03:46I'm not going to call in favors.
03:48I'm not going to get you opportunities.
03:50If you want to do this, you know,
03:51nobody helped me.
03:52So you're going to have to figure it out yourself.
03:55So I moved back from Dubai to India.
03:56I was also, I think,
03:57at the right place at the right time.
03:59There was also this gap
04:01for maybe actors of my sort of age group in Mulyalu.
04:06Because we had these two big superstars
04:09and, you know,
04:10they were also at a stage
04:11where now they can't play kids
04:13that are out of college.
04:14It was also that phase in cinema
04:16where people were doing coming of age movies.
04:18So I ended up becoming the poster boy for that.
04:23And so this first four or five films that I got,
04:28you know, I genuinely believe it was just dumb luck.
04:31I think when I was younger,
04:32I think he had the same fear as me
04:33that I might not amount to anything.
04:36So I think now,
04:38I think he's quietly proud.
04:40Like he doesn't really say things to my face,
04:44but it's there.
04:44Like I can tell him certain things that he says
04:47or conversations he has with his close groups.
04:50I can tell that he's very proud.
04:52And now we speak as friends and as equals,
04:57which is the most delightful thing.
05:00I think for us boys to get to that stage
05:04with our fathers,
05:05especially in India,
05:07it's a big,
05:08I feel like it's kind of an accomplishment.
