Bijou Thaangjam, from Manipur to Bollywood

For somebody whose childhood was tainted by memories of being bullied, Bijou Thaangjam comes across as a survivor, who eventually made a wise decision to ignore them and focus on far more important things. Once he overcame the bullying, he saw himself growing from being an average student to becoming a topper in college, and from being shy and timid to a confident, self-dependent young man.

Although he was born and brought up in Imphal, Manipur, he moved to Bangalore at the age of seventeen, where he also worked part-time and did odd jobs to pay his own college fees. Subsequently, he earned a bachelor's degree in Biotechnology from Bangalore University. During this period, he was introduced to "Ranga Shankara", a world class theatre facility in Bangalore, which, he says, was by accident. But the actor in him was unmistakably born here, although he confesses that, "while growing up, I was actively involved and very much inclined to local theatre, dance, folklore and other forms of entertainment, but I never thought I would pick up acting as my profession."

Today, we know he has made it to Bollywood, already having featured in numerous TV commercials and advertisements both for Indian and international market. He has worked with many big ad agencies, studios and well known directors including Anurag Kashyap, Manoj Tapadia, Vivek Kakkad, Ram Subramanian and others. He has also featured in commercials alongside big Bollywood Stars such as Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Asin and Rajit Kapur to name few, and has also debuted in Omung Kumar's directorial film 'Mary Kom', where he worked with Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Bijou Thaangjam has 5 films in the pipeline, out of which 4 are due for 2016 release. Two of them are in the post-production stage (a cameo role in Pradeep Ingole's Robinhood ke Pote & Sanjib Dey's Three Smoking Barrels) while the other two are still being filmed. He is currently shooting for Ajay Devgan's high octane action film "Shivaay".

So, if you ask him how Bollywood happened, he would take you back to his stint with Masterchef India, during which, he started getting calls from production houses and casting directors for TV commercials, print ads and TV reality shows. Then auditions happened in between, but most of all, he vividly remembers the date, 8 ^th November, 2012, when he decided to move to Mumbai for good. And the rest, as they say, is history.

But if you think he has had it easy, then you are mistaken. To put it in his words, "it has been just a few days for me in Mumbai when I signed my first film as everything happened like a bolt of thunder. It was not as difficult as I thought or imagined, but what came after that was tough. To be honest, I was signed to Mary Kom just because of my looks and me being from Manipur. I had to work really hard on everything, starting from my diction to acting to even my physical appearance. It wasn't easy for me to be an actor and to play a role very different to what I am like in real life. All those TVC and print shoots I did earlier, helped me in no way but to be camera friendly."

Almost 4 years in the film industry and he rates the experience as, "so far, so good" and insists that he is just a beginner and learning new things everyday. In Mumbai, the competition is tough, he adds. More so, when you are from the North East even while he puts across that, "My biggest challenge is that I don't look Indian enough (according to them). Sometimes I wonder what is this INDIAN look? You see, Kashmiris look very different from Malayalis and so do Bengalis to Gujaratis and Punjabis to Oriyas. India is a subcontinent with diverse culture and race. But when it comes to Bollywood, they are dominated by Aryan features. People from Northeast have or very few work in mainstream cinema, even if we get some role, all are of stereotypical. This should stop. Bollywood as well as the audience should open up to talent from the Northeast." "I was rejected many  times during auditions because of my looks", he says. But generally speaking, he expresses that "the biggest challenge, I think is that we actors forget that despite all the challenges we face, we still want to be actors because it is fun. It is fun to play roles, be on set, be creative and work with other people."

And if you are wondering what does a day in the life of an actor look like, it means having a lot of drive, discipline, stamina and energy. Or at least that's how it is for Bijou Thaangjam. If you ask him for details, he would tell you this-

"My day usually starts around 7:30am or 8:00 am with a good breakfast of cereal, toast, yogurt, a big bowl of mixed fruits and green tea. While I'm enjoying my favourite meal of the day, I will be checking my email and Whatsapp messages hoping that a casting director or someone has contacted me with  anything interesting in the way of roles for productions, films, TV shows that I should audition for.

So working as an actor also means constantly being in touch. Also working as an actor means: Auditioning! After putting together my mail, it's shower time and off to the first commercial audition of the day, which usually isn't before 11:30 am – 12 noon. The first could be an on-camera commercial audition at Aaram Nagar, Versova. The next one will be around 2 pm, for another commercial at Mahada, 4 Bungalows and then another around 5:30 pm for an on-camera commercial at Shriji, Oshiwada. There's no rhyme or reason to what type of auditions they will be, how many or where they will be held. Could even be three or four auditions usually either for commercials, film, TV shows or for print work.

And also keeping fit and going to classes like music, dance & martial arts around late evening. But the day isn't finished yet without checking the casting messages one more time for the day to see if there has been any activity: new auditions that have been posted for example. If I see an audition I feel I might be right for, I might send my profile and pictures, then I recap the day's activities, do a little self-analysis (what went well and what didn't), look over my plan for the next day, get my clothes together for the auditions, an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, a quick snack and then off to bed around 2 am! Tired, but happy to be doing what I'm doing!"

Certainly driven by passion, Bijou Thaangam's ultimate dream as an actor is to reach the zenith point, where he can be an inspiration to many people. "I want to be that actor, who not only entertains others but inspires them to follow their hearts and passion,"says the 30-year old actor from Manipur (for whom, age is just a number).

~Vishü Rita Krocha