Actor Ankur Rathee: From Princeton to Bollywood and Hollywood, the Road to Best of the Best

South Asian Trailblazers

Actor Ankur Rathee discusses his unconventional transition from a dancer in California and student at Princeton to established actor in both

Key takeaways

• Ankur Rathee views fame as a 'currency' to be used for telling meaningful stories rather than just ego gratification.
• The production of 'Best of the Best' combined high-budget Netflix quality with the experimental energy of a student film.

Main topics

• Career journey and acting origins
• Bollywood vs. Hollywood production styles

Notable quotes

Fame is a currency that a lot of us actors can use to tell stories that matter to us.

Conclusion

The episode provides an inspiring look at how cultural identity and pr

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Hot take about how Hollywood or Bollywood makes movies. Speaker 1 (0:03) America is so much more egalitarian and India is a lot more social hierarchy and it leads to some very inflated egos. Speaker 2 (0:12) This is the first time we're gonna see like an Indian heartthrob. What did it mean to you to play that sort of role? Speaker 1 (0:17) We haven't seen a leading man hero. Speaker 2 (0:20) Yeah! The Speaker 1 (0:21) way we in Bollywood were like, I only saw South Asians on camera. when they were nerdy, poor, or exotic. And so I hope for so many other kids, they see this film and be like, I can be cool too. What Speaker 2 (0:34) do you think it's gonna take to get more films like these, mate? Speaker 1 (0:36) A film like this becoming a huge commercial box office hit. Because I guarantee you there are tons of other scripts that execs are sitting on and just like, yeah, but who's gonna watch a bunch of brown people? Speaker 2 (0:48) Does this film feel like an I Made It moment for you? Speaker 1 (0:51) My bar for Made It is so high. Can Speaker 2 (0:54) you share what that definition of success is? International movie star. Yeah. That Speaker 1 (0:58) spans multiple continents. Not just from my own ego gratification. A lot of actors run away from fame. Fame is a currency that a lot of us actors can use to tell stories that matter to us. Speaker 2 (1:10) I'm Simmy Shaw and welcome back to South Asian Trailblazers. Today I am welcoming an actor who has had one of the Speaker 1 (1:17) most unconventional paths into this business, Ankur Rathi. Speaker 2 (1:21) Ankur grew up in the United States, went to Princeton, but also studied and spent time in India and went on to build a career in Bollywood first. His credits include four more shots, Made in Heaven, Tapad, Single Papa, And before that, in 2013, he was a finalist on Dance India Dance, which is a key piece of history because in this conversation, we're talking about his leading role in the film Best of the Best. He plays a character named Ronak, and this film is all about the Indian dance circuit, which Ankur knows a lot about as someone who grew up primarily as a dancer and creative. We talk about what it's like to work across two of the biggest film industries in the world, and what he dreams for his career next. Joining me now is Ankur Rathi. Ankur, so lovely to meet you. Congratulations on an amazing project. Speaker 1 (2:19) Thank you. Thank you so much. How Speaker 2 (2:20) are you feeling? Speaker 1 (2:21) I feel thrilled. I feel like yesterday we had the premiere. Speaker 2 (2:26) Yeah. Speaker 1 (2:27) I'd seen the film a few different times, screeners and this and that before, but that was the first time with such a huge audience. And to hear them responding with like, ooh, or like, aww, or like, ah. Like all of those kinds of reactions, it's like, it's such a payoff as an actor who has been working on something for so long to know that people are responding to the material and the choices that you've made as an actor too. Speaker 2 (2:49) Absolutely. I was talking to Hassan, Lina and Prashanth about the same thing of this is my first time in a theater. watching a movie with people on a premiere night in a long time where everyone is reacting to some of the same things and that felt really special and I feel like one of the particular moments was when you sort of make your entrance at the salsa mixer and I was like I it was just such a collectivism feeling which I really appreciated I actually really want to start at the beginning of your journey and how you found your way to acting you have such an interesting background with respect to being born in India growing up in California making your way to Princeton What inspired you to fall in love with this craft in the first place? Speaker 1 (3:26) You know, I just grew up watching a lot of Bollywood films as a kid. And I think when you're that young, it's not really a conscious thought. Like, I saw it, I was enamored by it, and I would, like, reenact the dance numbers and reenact the fight sequences, playing the good guy and the bad guy, throwing the punch and taking the punch. And I think I just always imagined myself doing that. And it wasn't until I was older than I understood that, oh, that's a profession and that's an entire craft and an art form that you have to master. And my first kind of introduction was through dance. I used to dance a ton as a kid and started performing at like cultural festivals like Diwali and whatnot. And eventually that made me fall in love with dance in general, got into contemporary and hip hop. And then Princeton happened and I was like. Okay, now it's time to focus on studies and get a job. Like, you know, before I was telling my parents like, oh, I'm doing all this dance stuff for extracurriculars to get into a good college. You know, and then when I got into college, I was like, okay, now I'm going to stop. But like, I just couldn't help myself. I just got pulled in. I ended up doing two dance companies, two acapella groups, musical theater. It just became a part of who I am. And then dance led to musical theater. Musical theater led. to acting and then eventually just purely acting. And I fell in love with that. Speaker 2 (4:48) As you reflect on that time in high school and then in college, continuing to pursue musical theater and dance and the arts broadly, did best of the best feel like this full circle moment where you were almost acting out a college version of yourself? Speaker 1 (5:02) Yeah. Yeah. I I'd like to think I wasn't as, um, as naive and maybe obsessed as Ronak was, but definitely, you know, I think what's really interesting is Ronak is like a 22 year old who's probably not had many people say no to him. And he's like floating on that confidence that's not really grounded in experience, but just, you know, he just feels like, ah, I walk on water. Like I can do this, I can do that. I can lead a team and I can dance. And I think when I was that young, There was a level of that naivete as well, where I just was like, the world is my oyster. And I felt like, oh, I can go out there and achieve anything. I think which should be what any college student should feel, you know, at that age. So that really resonated with me about him and that time when I was in college. Speaker 2 (5:51) Yeah. It feels like you've taken that spirit of the world is my oyster into your career, like making the decision to move to India, pursue a career in Bollywood, now traversing back to Hollywood. Do you still feel that sense of naivete and the world is my oyster? Do you feel like the industry has sort of making you take a step back and have this reality check at points? Speaker 1 (6:11) I have to fight tooth and nail to preserve that optimism. This industry is not for the weak hearted. You know, you face a lot of rejections. And even if you don't, just a lot of ups and downs. It's a very comparative industry. So, you know, you're only as good as your last hit. you know, and I think that over time there have been chapters where I was a little jaded by experiences, by particular people that I'd worked with, but fortunately, you know, every now and again we were about to lose hope, you get a project like this and you're working with people like Hassan and Prashant and Lina who are just beacons of joy and light and positivity. The whole energy around this film was so