Aditya Seal had acquitted himself memorably in a dance-off with Tiger Shroff in Student of the Year 2 The 2018 film, with Aditya playing campus jock Manav Singh Randhawa, is considered his breakout, though he's been acting in movies since a child. A former teen star who can dance, Aditya has now been tapped to headline Rocket Gang an upcoming dance-horror-comedy directed by choreographer Bosco Leslie Martis. We spoke to Aditya about working on Rocket Gang, the pressures on kids in movies, seeking out 'character roles', and the status of The Empire season 2. Excerpts...
Are you a trained dancer and did it come handy on Rocket Gang?
Since my childhood, I've been training to become an actor so my father (late producer Ravi Seal) made me do everything. He made me learn how to fight, he made me learn dancing. So I knew Bollywood and some Hip-Hop But honestly, on the first day when I went to Bosco's and we started rehearsing, we started on the song 'Bang Bang! Raath Bhar..., a groovy and cool song so I got the steps easily. I thought acha pure film mei aise hi gane hai, aise hi tracks hai (the film has similar music throughout) then I'm going to ace it. When the next day the proper training started, I was like 'Okay.. we need time for this. The dance was fast, quick, clean. I was not used to this kind of dancing. What you see people do on show's Like Dance India Dance, it was at that level.
The film has kids from real ity shows. Is life much dif ferent for them now com pared to when you started out?
I was chilling when I was their age. My father never put any pressure on me. But these kids, they have to manage school, their studies and their reality shows apart from doing a lot of dance training. I'm sure they love it, but it's still a lot of pres sure. I'm glad to see what they are doing but if it's taking a toll on their mental health, if it's putting pressure on them, then we need to rework something. So that's something the parents need to think over.
There's a lot of competition, with some kids being forced to become breadwinners for their families
Absolutely, that is unfair. I believe a kid should be allowed to be a kid for as long as he or she can be. I still feel there is a child inside me and I'm fighting every day for it, to not let it die. I always say that growing up is a trap I had heard this before and I do realize it now why they say this.