Do you know Amit Sadh has been in the industry for 20 years now? Yes, 20 years of doing what he loves, going through many ups and downs, and coming into his own. Sadh started his career on TV, playing a college-going heart-throb in one of those many shows about romance, and after a few reality show stints, bagged his first film — Kai Po Che! — in 2013. Did that mean he had finally made it to the big league? Well, not immediately, but the graph only went upwards from there.

In an MW interview last year, Sadh openly spoke about going off the grid. “I went away to better myself as an actor, and as a person. I then came back, and worked even harder to find work again. It took a little while. But the lesson is, it’s okay to go away to work on your craft. You see people take breaks in other fields, but if an actor does it, we all think he’s fallen off,” he had said. That decision to take a break was probably one of the best decisions he made for his career, because as he bounced back, the audience was sitting up and taking notice of his talent. In fact, he continuously emphasises on the importance of taking a break, and after the number of releases he has had in the past two years, and he says, “It’s been intense. Although, I would love to take a bit of a break again at some point, to relax and focus on myself a little. Maybe travel a little and just live life without work, for a while. One has to earn and make more moments to be able to come back on a film set, and share those moments. If you don’t do that, you become repetitive, and could be boring for your audience.” Work-life balance, right?

Sadh has never cared about the medium of storytelling, and that’s why after shining on the silver screen, he has made OTT his own. His stunning performance in both the seasons of Breathe is the biggest example, not to mention Avrodh: The Seige Within, and Jeet Ki Zid. “OTT has allowed the power to be in the hands of the viewer. With OTT, streaming services can see what people actually watch and enjoy, and they can make shows accordingly. I hope that streaming services take more risks with the shows they put out, and also have shows that truly represent today’s diverse society. I hope they tell stories from people that didn’t have a voice in the past,” he has said in the same interview.

Another quality of Sadh as an artiste, is his perspective when he’s looking at the kind of stories he wants to see in his scripts. “I just look for human stories. Something that explores the challenges of life. Something that people can watch and see themselves. I also need to work on that answer life’s questions, and help better the society. Breathe was written and executed so well, something that I could sink my teeth into. Kabir was an interesting character with so many layers, it’s a character that actors dream of playing,” he says.

No amount of prep can prepare you for when things don’t work out, and seldom do actors like talking about the time when everything was falling apart. Not Sadh. He has always been very openly accommodating of the fact that the wait to get your due doesn’t feel too pleasant, and that bad days do bring you down. He speaks openly of the time he was filled with self-doubt, but decided to wake up each day, and attempt to love his craft. The journey so far has not been easy, but deciding to show up every day is a choice Sadh made, and he’s only optimistic about where it’s gotten him in life.

Keeping it real and raw is Amit Sadh’s ethos. He believes in battling toxicity with love, emphasises on the importance of mental health and regularly taking breaks from social media. That being said, Sadh never shies away from voicing his opinion when he wants to. Recently, in a social media post, Sadh came out in support of those working behind the camera, like stylists, make-up artists, and other members of the crew, requesting people to clear their payments in time for their hard work. In fact, in his interview with MW, he spoke about how as a society, we have forgotten about the working people at the ‘bottom’. “Big businesses have been bailed out, but the hard working people that run our country have been overlooked. They’ve been forgotten about, with little money. I’ve seen it and read about it firsthand — families are having to survive on basics. It breaks my heart to see the very people who are so essential to our society, being overlooked and not loved. They’re the ones that clean our streets, make our coffee in the morning, deliver our groceries, grow and pick our vegetables, they take care of us when we are in the hospital. They’re the real heroes,” he had said.

Recently, Sadh’s first film, Kai Po Che! completed eight years, and director Abhishek Kapoor took to Instagram to share a BTS video from the making of the film. The clip showed the three actors — the late Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkummar Rao, and Amit Sadh — in a total bro code space. Kapoor also said that on the sets, the trio were like brothers. Sadh has time and again reminisced his time with actor Sushant Singh Rajput, fondly remembering SSR from their Kai Po Che! days. He remembers Rajput’s enthusiasm and desire to achieve, and believes that’s what makes his memories of Rajput so special.

His words on toxic masculinity in our interview resonated with each one of us. “Suicide rate in men is high, and we need to stop creating this pressure on men to be ‘tough’, to always be strong and hard. The strongest men are empathetic, kind, and soft. We, as movie makers, can change this. Let’s push stories that change people’s perception of how men should be strong, and emotionally unavailable all the time. Lets show more men breaking down and crying, and that being okay. Let’s show how women stand by our sides, and take the lead,” he said. In other news and updates, the trailer of his sports drama, 7 Kadam, dropped on March 5. The film is about a father and a son, Ronit Roy and Amit Sadh, and their commonly shared love for football. The combination of sports and emotions is always a winner with the Indian audience, and how Sadh and Roy, two extremely talented actors complement each other, is a visual treat we await. In a statement, Sadh says, “7 Kadam is a story one can easily relate to, the character in the series brings me pure joy, and it’s been a fantastic journey working on the show with a craftsman like Ronit sir.”

Amit Sadh’s belief in hard work, persistence, and kindness makes him more than just an actor worth his salt, which also makes us believe in him as a change maker in today’s age of storytelling. Here’s to Sadh, and more of Sadh in 2021.