‘I am only getting started,’ SlowCheeta aka Chaitnya Sharma, fresh off the success of ‘Maidaan’, opens up about his journey as an actor and rapper

An actor, a rapper and above all, a storyteller. This was the brief that we had of Chaitnya Sharma aka Slow Cheeta based on his recent stint in sports drama Maidaan co-starring Ajay Devgn and his latest rap track with Ranveer Singh titled Kar De Kaa? from the EP Scene Main Bawaal.

But one not-so-quick call reveals there is so much more to him than just being the above three. For starters, when he talks about his wife, actress Shweta Tripathi Sharma, whom he calls the light of his life, you find out he’s the greenest of green flags.

Take this for instance: when we enquire about how his day started, he reveals, with a passion that persisted during the entire chat, that on the day of our call, he woke up with a newfound motivation, credits to Shweta.

“I had a bit of chat with my wife before sleeping. She noticed that I was a little confused with all the reactions to Maidaan coming my way. She gave me an evident direction and told me that I need to be my best at the moment, be proactive and give myself the due credit where it was deserved. I was like, ‘she is right.’ So, I woke up today a different person. I woke up with so much motivation that I want to conquer the world,” he enthuses.

Chaitnya has so many similar tales to share. The first being why he goes by the stage name, Slow Cheeta. He tells us that his mother calls him Cheetah and his brother Sheru. So, when he had to pick a name for his rap tracks, he zeroed down on Cheetah. But why slow? Well, for Chaitnya, slow and steady wins the race.

He shares, “I did Maidaan and it was released in five years. I did Brahmastra and that took five years to release. So, I think I knew the future (laughs). I knew that anything I do, it will take time.”

“Also, I went with ‘slow’ because everyone has this stigma about rapping that it needs to be fast-paced. You see artistes like Notorious B.I.G and Snoop Dogg and you realise that they used to slow down their rap pace and my style is also very similar to theirs. Plus, growing up, I loved this band, Red Hot Chili Peppers who had a song named Slow Cheetah, which I loved. So, there were too many things hinting at this stage name,” he adds.

During the chat, we figured that an interesting stage name was just one of the many layers to Chaitnya that needed to be unfurled.

Thus, right from his artistic persona to his experience with fashion as a form of selfexpression to his newfound interest in fitness, we discuss everything with the actor with a brief detour to talk ‘big-picture stuff.’

A rapper first or an actor?

I recently wrote a song called Chai Biskoot where I address this very question that I am very frequently asked. The song looks at how I can’t figure out who I am and I do not wish to also. We have all grown up learning to put everything in boxes because it is easy to pro - cess. I feel like that is a limitation in art. Art is very fluid. We are all everything that we choose to be. I enjoy expressing myself, so, whatever stage or medium I find, I am happy to be there. I have been acting professionally since 2011. Basically, I have been acting much longer than I have been rapping and I was on my way to becoming an actor when life humoured me. There was a lucky draw newspaper article about an opportunity to rap with Ranveer Singh in Gully Boy in 2017. I filled in the lucky draw, got selected from out of over 1,000 entries and rapping took off. Rapper or actor, I see both as a win-win situation.

Acting, rapping and storytelling — how are you balancing all of this with your personal life?

Balancing as in? This is what I dreamt of. I am only getting started. I am at step one. Right now, I am not managing any of it. I am just relishing it. The more, the merrier for me. But yes, if we do talk balance, I feel as an artiste, it is very important to have an independent job. I think, for me that is music. I know I can sit down with a pen and paper and a beat and I need no one’s approval. That is what keeps me sane.

Speaking of Maidaan, how was your experience working with director Amit Sharma?

I believe that the director is the captain of the ship. I think as actors you should surrender to the director’s vision and if you don’t, then you are being dishonest. But surrendering to someone with a mediocre vision is the worst because the outcome is not great. With Amit, it was just perfect. He leads by example and I think his hands-on nature was truly inspiring. Let me give you an example. We were shooting a montage in mud and the ADs were giving us directions from a distance. I remember Amit was wearing white shoes and like a proper Delhi boy, he walked into the mud, without blinking an eye. I knew at that moment that this man is in it to win it and I thought that was incredible. Plus for a director to bet on so many new faces, without any star kids, I will give that man both of my kidneys (laughs).

You clearly had a lot going on the sets and given that you played such an intense character (footballer Pradip Kumar Banerjee), tell us a little about the training that went into it.

I was almost like a pickle that was kept in the sun to absorb more flavour. We got to live with the script for three years and really marinate into all of that information to bring out the story. We lived like players for three years. We woke up, trained 7-9, ate a healthy breakfast with no cheating and then we also had acting workshops. For three years we called each other by the character names and I think eventually we all just started living the part. Then obviously when I met Pradip Kumar Banerjee, I was blown away. I was looking for similarities between us and I remember when we went to his house and took a photo with him, he moved us all closer to a picture of his wife who passed away. I was so touched by that. I feel the same way about love and my wife. That’s how I started building on his character.

Did the rigorous training in the film impact how you approach fitness now?

One of the biggest gifts Maidaan has given me is fitness. It educated me about fitness and I realised a lot of our body goals are aesthetic dependent. Our process to address fitness is very surface level. Every body type is different. We have to educate ourselves on that and taking care of it is very important. Else, it is game over. You don’t need to have six-pack abs or look thin, you need a routine and discipline. Fitness is an ongoing process and you need to trust it.

Apart from fitness, we have also noticed your evolution in fashion…

I am a recent addition to this style situation. Earlier I only had black t-shirts in my wardrobe. Living with Shweta, who is so ahead of the curve, really inspired me. I figured that what I considered a safe combination was basically laziness and now I have started to enjoy fusion styles. I found a lot of desi brands who are doing my flavour of fashion.

Lastly Chaitnya, where can we see you next?

There is another film in the works called Sumo Didi. It is about India’s first professional sumo wrestler, Hetal Dave and it is currently doing the rounds in film festivals. It should be out in theatres in the second half of the year and my song, Kar De Kaa? is now out. There is loads more in the pipeline to watch out for.

Kar De Kaa? is now streaming on all major audio platforms. Watch Maidaan on Amazon Prime Video.

Mail: muskankhullar@newindianexpress.com

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