In the world of cinema — much like in any other art form — people have to work their way up before they taste success. Particularly in Bollywood, it has been observed that star kids more often than not start out by assisting filmmakers. That’s where they are introduced to films even if their ultimate goal is acting and not direction. These are stars who, instead of enrolling in acting schools, preferred to assist directors and learn the technicalities behind making a film. We point out some actors who forayed into Hindi cinema as assistant directors before finding their true calling...

Sharib Hashmi (behind the camera) plays a wannabe actor who works as an assistant director in Nitin Kakkar’s Filmistaan