Rupinder Walia spent more than two decades in Delhi theatre while building a banquet and event business. At 48, he has made his Bollywood debut in Udta Teer, playing Sodhi, a Haryanvi-speaking Sikh cop in Ayushmann Khurrana’s team.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, Walia said the role brings a comic edge, and he traced the long route that led from stage to a Dharma Productions and Sikhya Productions set.
A business first, Bollywood later
Walia trained at the Shri Ram Centre of Art and Culture in Delhi and completed a two-year diploma in acting. Theatre remained his outlet while he built a chain of banquets across Haryana and northern India and an event management company that handles government and private functions, including large weddings.
“I come from a middle-class family. This business I have built over time, working since I was 20,” he said. He knew film work was uncertain, so he wanted financial independence before he started.
That caution shaped his choices. He avoided television and did not move to Mumbai without a cushion. “I won’t do any role for money,” he said.
OTT changed the entry route
Walia argued that casting has changed. Actors can now audition from Delhi by sending a self-tape; casting directors no longer require a Mumbai move. He said the era of standing in queue outside a casting director’s office is over, at least for him.
Here are the principles he followed:
- Build a financial base before relying on acting.
- Keep theatre as training over the years.
- Use phone auditions instead of shifting to Mumbai.
- Choose roles for comfort, not cash.
The story is a marker of how Hindi cinema’s casting pipeline has widened. Walia’s path—training in Delhi, a parallel business, no Mumbai struggle—would have been harder when, as he puts it, “the industry was ruled by stardom and even getting character roles was difficult.” Now a self-taped audition can get an actor noticed without leaving home.
From theatre to Udta Teer
Walia credits his theatre history for the role. Director Akash Kaushik knew him from the same theatre group and had seen him speak Haryanvi on stage. Walia recalled Kaushik telling him, “Get ready, I am taking you beyond theatre to the big cinema.” After that, the casting team auditioned him.
He described the atmosphere on set as warm and punctual. Despite long-held ideas about stardom and late arrivals, he found Ayushmann Khurrana, Mukul Dev and Rahul Bose thoroughly professional, and the shoot flew by.
A milestone his twins noticed
Walia said the screening became a personal high. He has twin children in a joint family, and they were delighted when people asked him for pictures. “My kids had a sparkle in their eyes, as if their father had become a star,” he said.
He credited producer Guneet Monga and director Akash Kaushik for the chance, and said his children’s reaction has made him even more eager for new roles.
Source: Hindustan Times