Aftab Shivdasani Reveals Ram Gopal Varma Cast Him in Mast After Spotting Him in Cola Ad

Aftab Shivdasani is currently not enjoying the popularity that he did during the early phase of his career. Although he still does make appearances in movies and web series, his career graph has been towards the declining side. However, during the early and mid-2000s, Aftab was a popular name in showbiz and he has delivered some splendid performances. The movies that he bagged during this period were thought to be a result of his experience as a child actor. But in a recent chat with Etimes, Aftab said that it was a cola commercial that landed him his first leading role in the Ram Gopal Varma directed Mast in 1999 opposite Urmila Matondkar.

Having appeared in movies like Mr India and Shahenshah as a child actor, he later started doing commercials as he grew up. Talking to ETimes, he said that having been a child actor had nothing to do with procuring the leading role in Mast. While he was a child in school, he used to appear for auditions for commercials as he loved the camera. He was able to procure a cola ad and Ram Gopal Varma happened to chance by the ad, which led him to cast Aftab for Mast.

Mast was a big rage with the youngsters at that time with critics calling Aftab the next big thing. He completely changed his teenage lover boy image with his next movie Kasoor, which had him play a murderous antagonist. His transition was very well appreciated but his career went downhill from there. Talking about how his career failed to shape up properly, Aftab said that he did not have anyone to advise him properly. “Yes, because I am not from a film family, the road ahead hasn't been easy. As a result, no one offered me advice or told me how to arrange my career. I had to accomplish everything on my own, and I don't regret it. In fact, there's no way I'd want it any other way. At the same time, I won't deny that it hasn't been simple, as finding the proper kind of job and films has been a problem.”

Aftab's last appearance on the big screen was in the Kannada film Kotigobba 3 in 2021. The web series Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story also saw him playing an important role.

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