Siddarth Mallya on his journey from Richie Rich to struggling actor in Los Angeles

He is the only son of one of India’s biggest industrialists, but he just woke up one day and detached his father’s name from his. He just wanted to be known as Sid. He was being groomed to step into his dad’s shoes, but he decided the business world wasn’t for him. He left it, and the country. He chose to chase his dream — acting. Not Bollywood. That wasn’t his cup of tea (or vice versa). So he packed his bags and left for Los Angeles. He’s living like any other acting aspirant there (well, in a better apartment and with an unlimited bank balance) but then everyone’s struggle is different. The 26-year-old comes across as cocky to social media watchers but sitting across me, he just seems really confident. He is candid and chooses truth over tact and that is delightful. Just like his Brit accent. Here, he talks about girls, grit and growing up...

What’s new?
I have been out of India, in LA, America, taking on this new sort of venture in my life, sort of acting space. I got selected in Talent Showcase on ABC. I auditioned and out of 8,500 participants, they ended up choosing 20. And I was one of them. I originally went to America not with the intention of acting. It all sort of built up after the IPL show on YouTube, which got a lot of attraction.

Yes, it was cheeky, it was fun, mad...
Yes. In the US people saw that and said, ‘You have got great presence on screen, you speak well, you come across well.’ They are like also you come from a non acting background. ‘You have seen a lot of stuff in your life. You have a lot of life experiences’ and that’s actually all you need to act. So I said it’s all right I’ll take some classes. I really believe that you should study what you are going to do in your life. I am not going to wake up in the morning and say I am a journalist or an astronaut without actually knowing what I am doing. So I took acting classes and you know things moved very quickly and this ABC opportunity came.

What do you think worked in your favour?
I think they liked my difference. I am told that is my big plus at the moment. Earlier, they would not cast you in an American TV show if you weren’t a blue eyed, blond head white American. You would have had to struggle. Now they realise that the world is not small, it’s more than the US.

That’s not a fair representation of society anymore. And they are like you have this accent and the Americans love the British accent.

Who doesn’t!
And I have got a very cut-and-clean British accent even though certain news channels seemed to think this is fake. Trust me if this is a fake British accent, I don’t know what a real one sounds like.

With 23 years living in England, this is how I sound and they are like you have got a cut queen’s English. Besides, America associates Brits with aristocracy and intelligence and all these things.

So your Indian background wasn’t the big draw?
It’s a funny thing. They are like, you are so lucky that you are so ethnically ambiguous. I am pretty fair skinned for an Indian and I have got light eyes. And people cannot place which part of the world I am from. Some say, ‘I thought you were Hispanic.’ I am told I can pass off as Spanish, Italian. South American, Middle Eastern, Egyptian, I went for an audition and they were like the last thing we would think you are an Indian because as sad as it sounds and as narrow minded as this sounds, the Americans are not that sharp. In the sense that to them an Indian is a Slum Dog Millionaire. No it’s true, that’s what they think it is. Kunal Nayyar of Big Bang Theory. You are stereotypical.

Shows like Outsourced make things worse.
Yes, that is the most horrendous thing on earth. Awful in fact, and it was an NBC show. How they got away with us is beyond me. So that’s why actually I registered with screen actors as Sid, not Sidhartha because I don’t want to be typecast or categorised as ‘Oh he is an Indian’. Sidhartha has got to be an India, Sid could be anything. So I think that’s the word “ethnic ambiguous” and then it was funny because ABC has a system exactly what they are looking for.

Tell me about your audition...
They gave me a comedy scene to perform. For this one night show, you prepare for months. You are being watched by all the top directors, producers, casting directors and managers and agents in town. The scene was with this Australian guy. At first, I was little bit wary because I was like, I am very good at British comedy. You have seen the film Snatch? I could do Snatch very easily because I think that’s the funniest thing on earth. A British dry cut humour. American stuff like How I Met My Mother and Big Bang Theory, Friends, it’s a science, it’s an art and not easy to make Americans laugh... I did a course with one of the top comedy coaches called Lesly Kahn in America. I took her class. They told me how to do sitcom comedy and it’s not as easy as just reading words of a page. It’s a process. setting the joke, executing it and presenting it. If you don’t get every specific detail right, it’s not funny. 

Right. So when this thing about your interest in acting came out, everyone thought you were really interested in Hindi films.
No. Not at all. I don’t think I would have been Bollywood’s cup of tea either. I have always wanted to be the best in life at whatever I do. I am highly competitive. I am not acting on a whim. It is something I wanted to do for a long, long time. I never thought I would because when you are born into a family like I am, it’s only fair that I gave the business a go. I am 26 now. I moved there when I was 25. For an actor, you have to know that you are only going to bloom after a few years. You have seen the guys who have been hot stars, Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, 33 or 35 and 38. Twenty six is a baby in those terms. So Bollywood for me was not the niche because I don’t even speak the language clearly I don’t think I’d be any good. But it’s easier now... even ones who speak Hindi dub themselves.

Katrina’s made it big despite her accent.
Yes, but I didn’t want to do Hindi films because I don’t think I have the right sensibilities. I don’t want to be famous for the sake of being famous. I want to win an Oscar. I want to be the best in the world and I know I can and that’s the belief you got to have. In Bollywood I knew I could never be the best, because the masses, can relate to the Ranbirs or other heroes on screen because they have all grown up here. Then this kid with western sensibilities comes along, sounds like I do... No one is ever going to believe he is truly a Bollywood hero.

You realise that?
I do. And I think I actually would be cheating the audience. If I wanted to, I could have probably done three films by now. Instead of going for audition after audition, and being rejected. I could have been working nonstop now in Bollywood if I’d wanted to. May not in the biggest projects in the world but I would make a pretty hefty living for myself because Bollywood actors make good money. But I don’t want to do that. I’d be cheating the audience  because they are not going to relate to me.

Your interest in acting has anything to do with Deepika?
Absolutely nothing. Then I would have got into Bollywood right?

Deepika has moved on after your split but you haven’t been in a relationship since. Why?
No I haven’t been in a relationship after I broke up with Deepika. You know I don’t get it, some people like to go from relationship to relationship to relationship because perhaps they feel secure only when they are in a relationship. Perhaps they feel wronged if something is going on when it’s not official.. Perhaps they are insecure when they are alone... Then there are other people — and I fall in this category — who would not jump into a relationship unless they know it’s someone they really want to be with. I have been in two long relationships in my life. They both were a year-and-a-half long. I won’t get into a relationship with someone unless they are very special to me. I am not frivolous. You just take things as they come. You can’t plan. I may get married at 50, I may get married next year, you just never know in life what’s round the corner.

So no connection between acting interest and your ex?
The interest was there before I knew who Deepika was. Since I was a kid. I have been in boarding school since I was 10 so I have always had that independence to think with my own mind, rather than be influenced by people or things around. I have always been a performer… I am an only child, maybe that’s the only child syndrome — wanting attention and appreciation. The interest in acting was always there but I thought my main focus has to be the business to start with. I just owe it to myself, my grandfather and my father to give it a go. If I don’t like it, then no one is going to make me do it. But if you don’t do something, then how do you know you don’t like it, right?

Was your dad supportive in what you wanted to do?
Hundred thousand percent.

Really?
Yeah, and I could not have asked for more. When I told him, you know what he said to me? He said ‘son, go and do what makes you happy in life.’ He said the reason I stay in the office up to five in the morning, I couldn’t put up with everything that’s going on around me, because I genuinely love what I do. He said, ‘I wish the same passion for you.’ Maybe again it was all circumstance. I was in England my whole life. Coming to do business in India when you are brought up in a western world is not the easiest thing especially in the alcohol field. So dad said, ‘Go and do what makes you happy because I know you are going to succeed because you are exceptionally determined. He is like anyone who could run three marathons in one year has to have a certain level of determination and I know you are going to do fine. So ya, he couldn’t have been more supportive.

You also lost a lot of weight, right?
I was huge but that was in University. I spent three years drinking, pissing it up. I can spend six months losing it. It wasn’t the end of the world.

You once said that you are also Sid and not just a Mallya. Comment.
As I have always said I am much more happy being Sidhartha than Mallya.

But you find people trying to box you?
Yeah, people always want to look for negatives in this country as opposed to positives. I am sorry it’s the truth. People wouldn’t like m to say but it is what it is. They always see me as a Mallya here and I am a Mallya. It’s nothing to escape. I can’t escape. It wasn’t my choice to be born in such a family. It is what it is. But I think, OK let me put the question to you. I had a very cushy life here. I was being groomed to take over a massive empire. It was pretty easy here. I had to work hard but in terms of everything else.  I gave it all up to move 10,000 miles away to a country where I have no family, no friends, to live on my own.  Now I have a little dog, so it’s little less lonely. I cook, I do dishes, laundry and everything myself. I am starting at the bottom and people don’t understand that. But if you find someone else who has the balls to do that I’d be very shocked. Everyone says to me, all my friends, we commend you for just doing what you are doing and that’s why in America I think I have had so much. Touch wood, things have moved for me so quickly in such a short period of time. It’s because people there recognise that I have given up so much to be there, so I must really want this.

You get into a lot of trouble while tweeting? Have you been asked to tone down?
Absolutely, but that’s no fault of mine. That’s just the way people perceive what I write. Yes, I have been told to be more diplomatic but that’s not me. I am very stubborn. I won’t back down. If I believe in something and its right, I ‘m sure to say it. It’s because if I believe in some right, why would I let someone alter my beliefs.

But you know what coming from your background, your statements seem arrogant and perceived differently.
A 100 per cent. I have a folder called Lines on my phone. Whenever I hear something I like or anything or thought comes to my head, I write it down. (shows me phone). See here it is. This is my motto I came up with: We have the only thing in our lives right are our own thoughts. Nothing truly belongs to us anymore. Be it material possession, or person or anything. Everything is regulated in some way or another. The only thing which isn’t regulated and which is truly yours, are your own thoughts. If you start letting other people dictate your thoughts or stopping your thoughts, then you don’t truly have anything left which is yours. And you just become an empty vessel.  You don’t add any value to anything.  So I am not going to alter my thoughts the way that I think. 

Yes, you do have that reputation...
I am not going to be someone who is going to say something just because I want this image portrayed. It is what it is. There were too many people out there portraying fake images of themselves. You don’t need another sheep in the flock.

Your dad’s company has been in the eye of a storm. Comment.
I am away from it all and I always was. The eye of the storm is mainly the airline, right? And I never had anything to do with the airline. Despite contrary belief, it was not a birthday gift to me nor was I either the CEO or the president or whatever they tried to call me. It just happened to be launched on May 7. They wanted to launch it on the first Saturday in May 2005. Indians being very auspicious and superstitious as we are, it so happened that the first Saturday of May also happened to be the 7 which is my 18th birthday. It doesn’t mean it was a gift to me, how do you give someone an airline at the age of 18!

I wouldn’t mind it!
I am away from it all. In America, doing my own thing and making my mark on the world but it does upset me that people are short-sighted. I just feel it as it said there is a lot of negativity in India. Everyone just loves to just point fingers and focus on the negative as opposed to the positives. Look at all the good The UB group  has already done.. An actor makes one flop film, does that make him a bad actor? Now you have airlines which are doing very well and are very good but before Kingfisher launched that was not the case. Kingfisher revolutionised air travel in this country. And I hope and I am sure that everyone will start appreciating that because whether it’s there or not there today what Kingfisher did for aviation in this country was unparalled.

What sort of business man would you make?
I think I would be like my dad in the sense I’d definitely live my brand. We are in a lifestyle business of alcohol which is aimed at youngsters. It’s not like we are sitting making steel.  Going out and partying, hosting parties, having events, shooting calenders with bikini clad women is part of the brand. .  And he is someone who has embraced that and lives the brand.  He didn’t call himself the King of good times.  That’s something the media gave him so he must be doing something right not a single article gets printed on my dad without someone referring to him as the King of good times.  He is a genius. I think I’d be very smart and savvy like that. But I think I’d probably be more susceptible to getting hurt because I am an overly trusting person.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Hopefully doing what I am doing now, working constantly and progressing in my life. Five years from now I’ll be 31. I also feel like I want to be bit more settled by that point as well personally.

Everything is great. But unless you have someone to share all that with at the end of it, it’s all worthless. Being in LA is very lonely. I just want to be happy with what I am doing and hopefully working at the top of the game. But it’s a long road. All you need is that one break.  But otherwise I just want to be in a position where I am still progressing because even 31 is so young.

Of course. Do you see yourself producing shows?
Not as a launch pad for me. Perhaps I may produce one, if I see an epic opportunity because I have a business background. So if there is a product which I think I can make tonnes of money, or win an Oscar, then I’ll consider it.