Sparsh Shrivastava on Early Audition Days as a Rookie Actor: ‘I Was About To Get Scammed By a Fake Hotel Website’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Sparsh Shrivastava recalls one of the more unusual experiences from his early days as an actor, when a search for an affordable hotel in Andheri led him to a fake website. Speaking to Variety India, the actor remembers how he quickly realized he was dealing with a scammer and decided to turn the tables.

Shrivastava recalls that he was living in Thane at the time and had travelled to Andheri for an audition. When he learned that he would have to return to Andheri the following day, he decided that travelling back to Thane and returning again would be too taxing. “I was about to get scammed by a fake hotel website. I was looking for a cheap hotel, jahan main ruk sakoon, thoda sasta ho (I was looking for a cheap hotel, where I could stay without spending too much). I searched for a hotel in Andheri and the first website that popped up was a scammer,” he explains.

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However, Shrivastava says he was able to recognize the red flags because of his previous work in “Jamtara - Sabka Number Ayega,” a show about scams and cybercrime. “I knew that he was trying to scam me because I had done that show which was related to phishing,” he shares.

Rather than immediately ending the conversation, Shrivastava decided to see how far the scammer would go. “So, I thought, I can just outsmart them. I just kept chatting with them. ‘Achha, aise kitne paise bheju? (Okay, how much money do I send?)’” he recalls.

In the end, the actor jokes that the interaction turned into a role reversal. “So, I just scammed them instead,” he said.

While recalling his early days as an actor, Sparsh also shares the similarities between his character Bhugol in “Dupahiya” and himself. For those unaware, Bhugol is a small-town actor from the village of Dhadakpur, who performs songs dressed as women to make ends meet. He says, “I always relate to Bhugol. But, especially that toying side of him, which is quirky and peppy. That was me when I was 16 years old. And the ‘launda naach’ (a traditional folk theater and dance form) that you see in the series is what I have done in real life. I used to dance to “Dola Re Dola” when I was young. Life seems to have come full circle.”

The "Laapataa Ladies" actor adds, “I'm still the same Sparsh who is trying to make it big as the situations keep evolving. You reach somewhere but you also want to go higher than that.