Wannabe actor Sunny Maker writes book on what happens when Mumbai reality hits Bollywood Dreams
Sunny Maker didn’t plan on becoming a writer.
He did what all of us wish we had the guts to do: give up everything to chase a dream.
The lessons he learned as he journeyed from Australia to the mean streets of Mumbai to try and make it as a Bollywood star inspired him to write his debut book.
Chasing My Vision: Bollywood Dreams follows Sunny’s life story as he moves to Melbourne at the tender age of 17 to study engineering.
“It did take me a little while at the start to get used to Melbourne,” Sunny says. “Honestly, my vocal English was pretty crap at that time, so that was definitely the most difficult part. But that feeling of homesickness was super difficult too.”
Sunny also struggled to make ends meet financially.
Just as he was finding his feet, an unexpected incident caused him to give up his new life to follow his passion for acting. He set his sights on Bollywood’s bright lights and tossed the word ‘impossible’ out of his vocabulary.
Sunny’s story is for anyone who’s ever had a dream and wondered what would happen if they went after it.
“This book is about chasing your dreams, chasing your vision, chasing your passion and that internal desire,” says Sunny, who now lives in Melbourne’s northwestern suburbs. “Even though it has got a lot of ‘Bollywood factor’ in it, but it’s not only about Bollywood. Anyone can relate to this book.”
He says that anyone who reads this book should feel like, ‘Yes, I want to chase my vision now and won’t give up till the time I achieve my vision’.
The idea for writing the book came to Sunny when he was in Mumbai struggling over a movie script and it took him a year to complete.
“The whole process was fun but super challenging,” he says. “After completing the book, there were processes like editing, proof-reading, getting it published, marketing. And I wasn’t aware of any of it before I started writing. Each process was quite challenging in its own way.”
But the processes far from put Sunny off; he’s already nearly half way through finished writing his second book.
“I love writing now. It’s not like 9-to-5 job where you’re only bound to do certain things and can’t cross that line,” Sunny says.
“I have also got another big project in my mind which I hope will be going to my third novel,” he says.
And what does Sunny think now about Bollywood?
“Oh God, Bollywood,” he says. “Not easy to break into. I think if I’d tried this hard to get into Hollywood, I might have got in by now, (laughs) – just kidding.”
He says he has seen quite a lot over there in a short span of time. “Hats off to all those people who can actually make it in there. It’s not easy at all. I think it’s probably one of the toughest careers you can choose for yourself,” he says.
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