Today he is known as Bukka Reddy from Rakta Charitra, but Abhimanyu Singh started his acting journey with zero Bollywood connections. After spending eight years doing theatre, Manoj Bajpayee recommended the actor to filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra for his next film. That’s how Abhimanyu marked his big screen debut in the 2001 film Aks, opposite veteran superstar Amitabh Bachchan. However, in a recent interview, he opened up about the aftermath of the movie’s failure and how it landed him with zero offers in hand, despite starring with the biggest star of the film industry.

During a candid chat with Hindi Rush, he shared, “He (Manoj Bajpayee) came to watch my play, and then recommended my name to Rakeysh Mehra. Then, Rakeysh did my screen test and finalised me for Aks. It was my first film, which flopped badly. This is the truth.”

The actor further added, “People feel that Abhimanyu Singh got his first film with Amitabh Bachchan. But the truth was that after the release of that film, I did not even have work in serials. I can say this today. If the film flops, then no matter how well you act in it, it doesn’t matter.”

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Abhimanyu Singh emphasised that no matter how good an actor is, the future opportunities are dependent on the film’s box office performance. “If a film flops, then it doesn’t even count. Many times it happens that some things flop but certain elements in it are so good or they get critically acclaimed. Audience likes something very much, then it is a different thing. Sometimes it also happens that something flops first and then becomes a hit again,” he shared.

There have also been many instances where a particular film picks up after a week of its release, case in point – Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit’s Tezaab. “Tezaab, I remember in Patna, we went to the theatres on the first day and it was empty. We liked the film very much, then after 10 days we thought of watching it again. When we went on the 10th day, it was housefull and tickets were being sold in black. Then we got to know that the film had picked up pace after a week, so this also happens,” he said.

On the work front, Abhimanyu Singh has a great lineup of projects, including, Batwara 1947 (formerly Lahore 1947), They Call Him OG, and Akshardham: Operation Vajra Shakti.