Our film received a warm response at Toronto Film Festival: Harsharan Singh

For actor Harsharan Singh, being from a theatre background has been both, a blessing and a challenge. The actor who started as an theatre student from Chandigarh's Panjab University, going on to do theatre for many years, then graduated to TV serials, ads, as part of production team, eventually to playing lead in Punjabi films. Known for his intensity of character, Harsharan is now gearing up for the release of his next film, Range Road 290, where he plays the lead protagonist, Samar Singh Gill.
"Acting was a dream since childhood but since I was an introvert, I couldn't confide in anyone," he says speaking to us. He adds, "Then one days I saw a play and found it interesting and decided to join theater. I learnt a lot from the faculty at Panjab University 's theatre department. Looking back, that was a golden period of my learning. I spent all my time on campus doing theater."
Harsharan began getting offers for TV shows and he tried every genre, from drama, comedy, social to period dramas. "I did serials back to back, and did a lot of work including music videos. That gave me confidence and I moved to Mumbai, did ad films including with the likes of Abhishek Bachchan."
However, with time he felt that the kind of work he wanted to do needed more training. "So, I got involved with several post productions and even assisted Shyam Benegal for a project, which was a very profound experience. I acquired knowledge of 360 degree process of filmmaking including as film producer. Thereafter, I shifted to Canada and began doing Punjabi films."
One of his previous short films, Khoon received warm applause at Toronto International Film Festival. "Just as Khoon was appreciated by audiences, Range Road 290 also received a warn response at Toronto Festival in August last year. It is rather gratifying when your hard work is appreciated."
Ask him if being a theatre actor helped him in his craft and he says, "As a theater actor you have to work harder if you don't belong to the film fraternity. Those who already hail from film families are aware of the film making process and have parents, elders to guide them. I had no guidance at all and I learnt everything through hard work and on the job. We had a written test for entrance into PU and I wasn't even aware of who Mohan Rakesh (prominent playwright and novelist) was. So, you can imagine how raw I was.
But I always believe, if you can think it you can do it, no mater how big your dream is."