Vardhaan Puri honours his 'mentors' late grandfather Amrish Puri and filmmaker Aditya Chopra on Guru Purnima

Mumbai, July 10 (IANS) On the occasion of Guru Purnima, actor Vardhaan Puri paid a heartfelt tribute to his late grandfather and legendary actor Amrish Puri, filmmakers Aditya Chopra and Mahesh Bhatt.

He described them as his mentors who have deeply shaped his journey, both personally and professionally. Vardhaan shared that he finds his gurus first at home. “My entire family-my parents, my grandparents (all four), and my sister Dr. Sachi Puri -are my mentors.” He draws strength from his grandfather Amrish Puri's words: “Khudi ko kar buland itna ki har takdeer se pehle, Khuda aa ke aap se khud puche ki bata teri raza kya hai.” “Make yourself so strong and your resolve so unbreakable that the universe tells you that you're putting in everything, my boy, now tell me what you want, and I shall serve it to you.”

He also spoke about how filmmaker Aditya Chopra played a pivotal role in shaping his approach to filmmaking, inspiring him to live life on his own terms and stay deeply passionate about cinema.

“One person who is both a guru and a teacher to me in life and filmmaking is Mr. Aditya Chopra. I look upto him in every way possible.” He recalled Aditya Chopra’s life-altering advice: “If someone wants to be in cinema, they have to understand the whole gamut of filmmaking. You have to learn everything, understand what excites you the most and then decipher as to what you are good at. Then put the two together and make a decision of what you want to focus on.”

The ‘Yeh Saali Aashiqui’ actor feels that having a guru in the film industry isn’t a necessity, but having someone to draw inspiration from can provide valuable guidance and direction. Expressing the same, Puri said, “I don't think it is essential to have a guru or mentor, but there must be someone you can look up to and derive inspiration from. I know so many people who do not have someone to guide them. But that's just perfectly all right. However, I know that those people definitely do look up to someone, whether they know them or not. So it's great to have someone like whom you aspire to be. It gives you direction and that is essential.”

During his days as an assistant director, Vardhaan Puri looked up to filmmakers like Habib Faisal and Maneesh Sharma as mentors. He also cherishes the time he spent working with Vikram Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt on Bloody Ishq, calling it a valuable learning experience.

“Mahesh Bhatt Saab has a lot of influence on me, both personally and professionally. He is a very evolved, highly empathetic person, and in many ways, he is my spiritual guru.”

--IANS

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