Struggle was to earn money from acting: 'Shubh Mangal Zyada...' actor Jitendra

Choosing right moment to take a leap of faith from comfort of easy money he earned by teaching physics to acting was real struggle for Jitendra Kumar, who is a step closer to achieving his Bollywood dream with his first lead role in "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan". 

An IIT-Kharagpur graduate, Jitendra initially wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. He failed to make cut and settled for civil engineering but his heart was somewhere else. "I wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. But I didn't get a good rank, so I got civil engineering. That's where I lost interest in studies. If you're t excited for field of engineering that you have, you can't be a good engineer," actor told PTI. 

"Kyun pull giraaoon main? (Why should I build a bridge that could collapse anytime?) That's more dangerous," he quipped. That's when acting happened. He joined online channel Viral Fever in 2012 and taught physics to support himself financially. 

In TVF, he became popular with his parody of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejirwal, Jitu bhaiyya in "Kota Factory" and Gittu in "Permanent Roommates". 

"I knew I can teach physics well, so earning money from tuition was struggle. Struggle was to earn money through acting. It was in figuring out point when you are confident eugh to leave job that pays easy money for job you love. n struggle was to get a serious acting gig to be able to completely sustain myself on it," he said. 

"Pitchers", which came in 2015, was first time Jitendra earned eugh money to pay off his bills and he never looked back.  In "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan", in which he is paired with Ayushmann Khurrana, is a same sex love story woven around two middle class families in small town India. 

actor said his character Aman has come out of closet for his partner Kartik, played by Ayushmann, but does t kw how to open up to his conservative family. "He is open to his partner. Sometimes, viewer will feel he is quite dominating in his relationship. 

"But when it comes to his family, he doesn't kw how to get through m. That probably has to do with environment at home, kwing his far is a conservative man. So he kws his far won't accept ir relationship that easily." re's much ado about his kissing scene with Ayushmann in film. 

actor believes that initially it may come as a shock for some, but when sequence will come along with story, viewer will feel romance. "When people first saw a couple of opposite kiss on screen, re was a lot of controversy, like it happened during 'Raja Hindustani' all those years ago. Whenever scene used to come on TV, somebody would cough, mummy would get up and go into kitchen, etc. It used to be quite awkward.

"w people can watch that long kiss with parents. So, things gradually changed. With time, it became rmal. This is first step. I hope y'll realise this too is just ar kiss," he asserted. Jitendra said love is t an issue like it's often made out to be in our society.

"We try to stop love -- be it between two different castes, religions, s -- in every possible way. But we easily forgive all crimes, one comes to stop us from polluting our rivers. 

"But when it is about love, people make an issue out of it, films out of it. It's quite unbelievable. Let love be love, re are too many issues that need to be addressed," he said. Directed by Hitesh Kewalya, film is slated to be released on Friday.