Anshuman Jha, the theatre and movie actor, director and producer, is a face you may remember from the much appreciated movie “Love, Sex Aur Dhokha” (2010). He was also part of movies such as “Yeh Hai Bakrapur” (2014), “X: Past is Present” (2015), “Chauranga” (2016), “Mona Darling” (2017) and the recent, “Angrezi Mein Kehte Hai” (2018). Though his latest release has earned mixed reviews from the critics, Jha’s portrayal of his character has been noticed in the movie. Going by his life history, acting seems to be on his cards since the time when he was a teenager.
Born on 15 March, 1986 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Jha shifted to Mumbai to join an acting workshop at Prithvi Theatre at the age of thirteen. He made his debut as a professional stage actor in plays like “Jhagrapur” and “Lalchi” a couple of years later. He was the youngest to have received a Diploma in Acting from Barry John’s Imago School of Acting in his time.
Image Credit: Movie – Love Sex Aur Dhokha
Next, theatre director Barry John cast Jha in his play “It’s All About Money Honey” (2002). He has also worked in a number of plays such as Joy Fernandes’ “Chotu”, Jaimini Pathak’s “The Boy Who Stopped Singing”, Girish Karnad’s “Bali” and Quasar Padamsee’s “Kindertransport”, while pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Economics at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He has assisted well-known directors such as Subhash Ghai in the movie “Black & White”, Paritosh Painter in “Paying Guests” and John Owen in “Peter Gaya Kaam Se” before venturing into Bollywood. His self-written play, “Dirty Talk” was directed by Nayantara Roy, and was represented by India at the Contact-World Theatre Festival at Manchester, the United Kingdom in 2010.
Jha made his Bollywood debut as Rahul in Ekta Kapoor and Dibakar Banerjee’s “Love, Sex Aur Dhokha” (2010), and continued to star in many other movies. Of his latest work, he has acted in Harish Vyas’ “Angrezi Mein Kehte Hai” (2018) as Jugnoo. Even after establishing himself as a Bollywood actor, he has worked as Creative Assistant Director to Subhash Ghai in “Kaanchi” (2014). He received great reviews for his role as Nunna in “Kismat Love Paisa Dilli”, and his roles in “Yeh Hai Bakrapur” (2014) and “Mona Darling” (2017).
On television, Jha has endorsed a number of brands such as Brooke Bond Red Label, Choclibe, Pepsi, Tata Sky, Anmol Veg Munchies, I-Can, Vicks, Big Basket and OLX.
Jha describes Jugnoo’s character in AMKH as a positive one, where he loves Preeti (played by Shivani Raghuvanshi) and encourages his father-in-law to express his love to his wife. He chooses to work in unconventional movies, yet theatre will always remain his meditation. He now focuses more on feature films, but plans to return to theatre and cinema soon. Jha will be next seen in a web series called “Babbar ka Tabbar” and “Midnight Delhi”, and he will begin shooting for “RSVP” opposite Tannishtha Chatterjee in July.
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