Every now and then, showbiz gets a story of hope. Sanjay Kumar Sahu’s story is just that. Over the past few weeks, the actor has seen an outpouring of love for his performance in the acclaimed thriller, Black White & Gray — Love Kills. The recognition feels almost surreal to Sahu, who hails from a Chhattisgarh village.

“I am from Umapur, a village situated in the Surguja district in Chhattisgarh. It’s a tribal area. When I was in college, the first from my village to pursue higher studies, I juggled it with folk theatre. During this time, I met actors who suggested that I should enrol in National School of Drama [NSD] or FTII [Film & Television Institute of India]. I wasn’t able to get through NSD, and FTII was out of my league because of its high fees. Later, I heard that FTII was subsidising fees for the acting course. It felt almost as if it happened for me,” says the actor, who enrolled in the institute in 2012.

Sanjay Kumar Sahu