Adarsh Gourav

Gourav was born in Jamshedpur. As a child, he trained in classical music under Guru Chandrakant Apte and participated in local singing competitions. He was also one of the finalists of Jharkhand Idol 2005. He attended Loyola school, Jamshedpur.

In 2007, when Gourav's father, who was an ex employee of The Central Bank of India, got transferred to Mumbai, the family decided to relocate. He studied at the Lilavatibai Podar High School. While singing in the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2007, he was spotted and asked if he wanted to try acting. He agreed only because he was excited to be on television. After a year of auditioning, he was cast as the young Shahrukh Khan in the film My Name is Khan.[3][4] Around the same time, he was also cast to play Sancho Panza in his annual day production at school "Man of La Mancha". Thereafter, he went to Mithibai College where he was part of the Drama Team.

He studied in The Drama School in Mumbai.[5]

He was scouted to sing for Raell Padamsee's theatre company. He also sang for films like Black and White and Chal Chalein. Although his acting career began he when was 14, Adarsh seriously started pursuing acting when he was cast to play one of the primary characters in a film titled "Banana", produced by John Abraham Entertainment and directed by Sajid Ali. While in his final year of college at Narsee Monjee College of commerce, he worked with Anurag Kashyap in his short film "Clean shaven" with Radhika Apte. The next year he was cast as the lead in Rukh alongside Manoj Bajpayee[3] and as one of the antagonists in Sridevi's Mom.[1] In order to work on his craft, he took a break and went to The Drama School Mumbai in 2016. After finishing school, he worked in the Amazon production "Die trying" and the TVF production Hostel Daze. He also played Prince Tarquin in the NCPA production "Lucrece" directed by Paul Goodwin in 2017. In 2018, he worked with Academy nominee Deepa Mehta on her Netflix series Leila.

After a few months of not being able to find any acting work, he was called in for an audition of The White Tiger.[6] His portrayal of Balram Halwai in the Netflix film has been lauded by all as the "star of Ramin Bahrani's film",[7] with the Evening Standard saying, "Gourav is nuanced and utterly engaging as Balram Halwai, a bright peasant who morphs from lickspittle chauffeur into something more ruthless.[8]" and Variety calling it a "small marvel".[9] The Telegraph said Gourav "gives the definition of a breakthrough performance"[10] The Entertainment Weekly called him "a largely unknown actor whose soulful combination of sheer will and vulnerability should, in a just world, win him the kind of accolades that helped make Slumdog's Dev Patel a star.[11] For his performance, Gourav was nominated for the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead[12] and was selected for the BAFTA long-list for Best Actor.[13]

Gourav learnt Hindustani classical music for nine years under different Gurus.[14] In college, he was the lead vocalist for a progressive rock band called "Oak Island".[1]

He started getting interested in Western music while in Junior college and sang for the college band "Steepsky". They recorded a single called "Good guys finish last". In college, he sang for a progressive rock band called "Oak Island" which was also featured in MTV Indies-Never Hide Sounds.[14] They recorded an EP called "Aliens can't Jump". They played at various band events and venues and at one point, they were considering to move to America to become a touring band.

• Adarsh Gourav at IMDb
• Adarsh Gourav on Instagram