BAFTA-nominated actor Adarsh Gourav says a middle-class upbringing in smalltown Jamshedpur had its advantage. It helped him experience a wider perspective of life. Gourav has received a BAFTA nomination in the Best Actor category for his starring role of Balram Halwai in The White Tiger. Balram is a lower-class boy from the backwaters of Bihar, who moves to swanky Gurgaon. Adarsh, who did his schooling in Jamshedpur, subsequently relocated with his family in Mumbai. BAFTA 2021: Adarsh Gourav Gets Nominated for The White Tiger.

On the advantage of being middle class, Adarsh told IANS: "I think the fact that you do not get everything in life that you want, and how to deal with it (is an advantage). If I give a small example, at the age of nine, if I wanted a pair of Nike shoes, I wouldn't get that because either there was no showroom of Nike back then or my father thought it was an unnecessary expenses. It wouldn't have been the same with a boy from a wealthy family. Not that I was upset or anything but we always knew what we could afford and what we couldn't. Having said that since my parents had a huge passion for travelling, we would go on a family vacation every year." The White Tiger Movie Review: Priyanka Chopra-Rajkummar Rao’s Netflix Film Draws Its Strength From Its Nihilism and Adarsh Gourav’s Ferocious Performance (LatestLY Exclusive).

He continued: "We did not go abroad for those vacations but in India, as child, I have travelled everywhere, and I know how beautiful my country is. We went to Himachal Pradesh, we went to Goa and also different places in South India. I felt the diversity, and whenever we travelled by train, we would chat with fellow passengers and the journeys were filled with memory."

"I know the advantage of being middle-class. My spectrum towards life is wider because I have interacted with people from different walks of life. My compassion and empathy towards other people and their condition is more. I value my privilege of having good food, going to a good school, living in a good house and everything that my parents have given me. Honestly, I do not want to change those values," he summed up.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2021 04:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).