Mokshad Dodwani

Mokshad Dodwani, is a young actor with a growing popularity in Mumbai, India. Born on 20th Nov 1989 in Mumbai he grew up as studious lad with high academic & social skills in School & College. An avid watcher of Discovery & National Geographic Channels, his boyhood ambition was becoming an engineer, scientist, and an explorer. But destiny had other plans. At the age of 15, he became passionate about performing arts. Dance and Acting became his religion, and moved his focus towards the pursuit of an acting career. He grabbed every opportunity in college to perform on stage or off stage. He has previously proved his extraordinary stage performance in "The Inspector Calls" a Hindi adaptation of J. B Priestley's famous drama, wherein he played a lead role as "Rai Saab" a "60 year old" business tycoon who on the very zenith of his career is confronted by a circumstance that threatens to expose ugly truth about his past and his household. Among his many other characters, he has also portrayed " Mustafa" a mischievous and nosy servant in "Baghdad Ka Ghulam" based on a masterpiece by Carlo Goldoni, the Italian playwright's " A Servant Of Two Masters". He has been personally mentored, coached and directed by Barry John, the acting coach of legendary Shahrukh Khan, Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpayee, Raghuvir Yadav, Lillete Dubey. It was at college, at the age of 19, during his academic year of the Bachelor of Mass Media Curriculum, Mumbai University, that he was discovered by famous director Shimit Amin & writer Jaideep Sahni for their upcoming film project with the prestigious Yash Raj Films. He was soon screened and confidently short listed by producer Aditya Chopra's team for their film "Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year". The film released on 11th December 2009 and was one of the most critically acclaimed film of the year. Mokshad's acting caliber, his superlative performance as "TAXI" an aggressive young sales executive in the film didn't go unnoticed. Director Shimit Amin & writer Jaideeep Sahni had given the vital lessons. Bollywood was beckoning and he had finally broken in. In August 2010 came the golden offer from International giant PepsiCo, to endorse it's to-be-launched brand Pepsi-Max, a new sugar free drink. It also launched Mokshad as the "New Face of Pepsi Max". The commercial called "The Interview" had him essaying the role of "Mr Godbole". In this, the 20-year-old Mokshad plays a protagonist with cheek, daring and an unexpected reserve of energy, which lends the commercial its incredible comical value. Mokshad had the opportunity to work with one of the hottest 10 directors out of 400 worldwide, England's Nic Osborne and Norway's Sune Maroni, who have won the Cannes Lion Epica and Cresta Awards for "Great Sense Of Humor & Comedy", and who were flown in to direct the commercial. In October 2010, he was soon cast by another international hot shot Cannes award winning director Richard D' Allesio from U.S.A (winner of 3 Lions award at Cannes & director of over 300 international commercials on the Madison Avenue & producer -director of TV serials & National Geographic Explorer series). This time Mokshad got the chance to show his talent by performing a mime act, as "an over eager comical flunkie" in the Godrej Appliance Eon Range TV commercial. The commercial is being aired on all channels in India with a roaring positive response. During 2011 and 2012, Mokshad went on to endorse many more products like Pepsi Lays commercials with Saif Ali Khan and also Airtel commercial with an Indian celebrity singer Shaan., He specially got popularity and fame for his Airtel Kanjoos Friend Commercial aired in September 2011, the commercial almost gave Mokshad a cult status...as he found people from the public everywhere in India, recognizing him as they gleefully and teasingly screamed from afar " Police ko missed call diya kya !!??" and "Kyon ke har ek friend, zarori hota hai !!" his famous catch-phrases in the popular commercial. Several film parts followed leading to a roles in "Ajab Gazabb Love" (2012) directed by Sanjay Gadhvi (of Dhoom-1 & Dhoom-2 fame) , "I Love N.Y" (proposed release 2013) produced by T-Series, and more recently Mokshad has teamed up once again with Ranbir Kapoor in a super hit film from Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and directed by Ayan Mukerji "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani" (30th May 2013) which has within 3 weeks of release flawlessly and speedily raced up to the Rupees 200 crores mark on Box Office Collections. In Jan 2014, he played a young college fresher who is teased by actor Ranbir Kapoor in the commercial called "Lays Freshers Party" for PepsiCo's Lays Chips , directed by Oni Sen for international agency JWT (Delhi). Now in November 2014, this versatile actor will be seen in a major role, as a staunch and honorable Prince Daniyal, the third, youngest and most eligible son of Emperor Akbar, in Epic Channel's flagship show a prime time series called "Siyaasat". A historical saga of the Mughal Throne based on Indu Sundaresan's best-selling book "The Twentieth Wife". For which, Mokshad has shot for several months in Bikaner, Rajasthan and its surrounding desert regions in extreme weather conditions and heat at soaring temperatures of 51°C. By: U.D