Actor Siddharth Shaw has opened up in detail about the grind behind his recent success, reflecting on the long and often discouraging journey that shaped his career. With back-to-back projects finally bringing him visibility, the actor revisited his early years in the industry—where rejection was routine and survival depended on persistence.
Speaking about those struggling days, Shaw described the harsh audition culture where actors were constantly judged on whether they were “fit” or “not fit” for a role. He recalled the uncertainty of standing outside casting offices, trying to stay prepared for opportunities that might never come.
He said: “People are seeing the range now, which is a great thing—you can see it for yourself. And those places where calls never used to come in before—those very doors outside which we used to stand, playing that game of "Fit" or "Not Fit"... We did all of that. It’s not as if you just get a role handed to you on a silver platter. You’d be in Aram Nagar with a bag in hand—carrying just a kurta, a trimmer, and a formal shirt—trying to pull off that "casual young boy" look. And back then—this was 2018 or 2019—you would go around asking everyone for ad auditions. For a single ad audition, 200 people would show up to test. The casting directors would come out and simply say, "Fit... Not fit... Fit... Not fit... Not fit... Fit... Not fit."”
He further added how repetitive and emotionally draining the process was, describing how an entire day would pass within minutes of rejection and how actors would return the next day to repeat the cycle again. Yet, despite the frustration, he continued showing up.
“And just like that, your day was over. You’d have to come back the next day and do the exact same thing. So, it is only after going through all of that—doing the grind day in and day out—that things have finally reached this point. So, within that space, there were so many places—so many projects—that you wanted to reach out to earlier, but it just wasn't happening.”
Shaw explained that only after years of this process did he start seeing real change in the kind of opportunities coming his way. According to him, the biggest shift was not just getting work, but being considered for roles that previously would not have been imagined for him.
“Now, however, things are slowly but surely being offered to me. I never in my wildest dreams thought that something like this would actually happen in my life. But it is happening, and it’s a truly wonderful thing that things are unfolding this way… even if I do go in to audition for something—and mind you, I haven't stopped auditioning; that is, after all, how one secures more work—the difference now is that I am getting to audition for roles where people previously wouldn't have even considered me. They wouldn't have ever imagined me in such parts. People have now started treating me as a serious actor—that is one significant shift that has occurred…”
He also credited his collaboration with director Shashank Shah on Chiraiya as an important turning point. The SVF-backed project from SVF Entertainment features an ensemble cast including Divya Dutta, Sanjay Mishra, and Prasanna Bisht.
Chiraiya, adapted from the Bengali series Sampurna, follows a young bride navigating a suffocating marriage while confronting themes of autonomy, consent, and emotional trauma. The project has been widely noted for its sensitive handling of difficult social realities.
For Shaw, this phase marks a clear shift—from being repeatedly filtered out in “fit or not fit” queues to finally being seen as a performer with range and depth. His journey reflects the long, often invisible struggle behind every visible breakthrough in the industry.