If you have watched Amazon Prime Video’s Adhura and DisneyPlus Hotstar’s The Night Manager, you can’t miss 11-year-old Shrenik Arora. The child actor has been getting a lot of praise for his sincere acting in both the web shows.
But who is Shrenik Arora and how did the makers of the shows discover him? Let's find out:
Shrenik Started Out With Ads
Shrenik made his 'acting' debut in 2021 with a television commercial for Dettol hand sanitizer. Since then, the Bangalore-based kid has made his presence felt by being a part of advertisements for popular brands like Horlicks, Decathalon, Myntra, Shoppers stop, Amazon, Dunzo, Flipkart. He has also featured in a Lux cozy ad with actor Varun Dhawan.
Here's How Shrenik Bagged Roles For 'The Night Manager' & 'Adhura'
In his debut web series The Night Manager, Shrenik shared screen space with popular actors like Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sobhita Dhulipala. He played Anil's son Taha and, despite a small role, caught everyone's attention.
"Shrenik has eyes far older than his age. It’s as if he has seen more and understands a lot more than he speaks."Sandeep Modi, The Night Manager director
After acing his role in The Night Manager, Shrenik went on to collect more accolades for Adhura, wherein he plays a school student. We are sure no one missed Shrenik giving the kubrick stare in the Adhura posters. The horror show, produced by Emmay Entertainment and also starring Rasika Dugal and Ishwak Singh in key roles, sees Shrenik play a 10-year-old troubled child Vedant, who is bullied by other kids.
Casting director Kavish Sinha told The Quint that 100 kids across the country were auditioned for this role, but it was "Shrenik's eyes” and “inherent childlike charm” that got him the part.
“He has a certain innocence in his eyes, and there was something so special about that when he was speaking in the audition. He also had that inherent childlike charm. Shrenik was in the very first batch of actors who auditioned for Vedant’s role and he was instantly liked, but I still continued to audition as Vedant was one of the leads in the show. We finally zeroed in on Shrenik because his naivety, efforts, his sheer presence and the joy of him being a really smart kid stood out for us.”Kavish Sinha, Casting director for 'Adhura'
Echoing Kavish's thoughts creator and director Gauravv K. Chawla told The Quint, "Shrenik displayed a depth and maturity in his acting that surpassed expectations. His ability to embody the complexities of a possessed child with conviction and authenticity is a testament to his remarkable talent. The chemistry between Ishwak, Rasika and Shrenik was amazing, adding an extra layer of intensity and emotion to the series".
Co-director and writer Ananya Banerjee added, "He’s a smart kid and has a quiet curiosity, that makes him a good observer too. That helped in his scenes with other actors. As an absolute bonus, Shrenik had walked into the audition room wearing a Harry Potter pendant and announced that he loves reading, especially fantasy novels. So I knew he’d get the world of Adhura, and it would be easy to find examples for him when it came to directing him in a scene."
Shrenik's Personal Life
Hailing from Bangalore, Shrenik studies in Vidya Niketan School in Hebbal. He is a dog lover and spends his free time playing guitar, skating and wave boarding.
On his Instagram he mostly posts pictures and video from the sets with his sister, who is also an actor.
Take a look at a few of his posts:
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