'Music has more money than TV shows': Ali Merchant
Actor-disc jockey (DJ) Ali Merchant is a multifaceted star. Starting his career as an actor with Ssshhhh... Phir Koi Hai, Merchant bagged his first leading role in Amber Dhara (2007-2008). Much later, he ventured into music, becoming a renowned DJ. In a conversation with NewsBytes, Merchant spoke about how he is striking a balance between acting and music, and his Bollywood debut.
His journey from acting to music
Merchant "must have done over 1,000 episodes in the television industry." He, however, took a break from acting since he "wanted to do much more than that." "I used to listen to a lot of international sets. My interest in music grew from there," he said, as he joked: "The money is good in shows; it's better than television, I must say that."
On his Bollywood debut
Having done over 35 television shows, Merchant is all set to make his debut in Hindi cinema. Speaking about the movie whose title hasn't been revealed yet, he said, "I'll be debuting in Bollywood with Nawazuddin Siddiqui's brother Faizuddin Siddiqui's upcoming film. It's a very human film, made along the lines of Iranian director Asghar Fareedi's filmmaking process." It's set for an April release.
Balancing between music and acting
Merchant believes that "once an actor, is always an actor." While he continues with his nationwide tours as a DJ, he is also making time for acting. But balancing between the two wasn't always so easy. "Initially, I couldn't do acting and DJing together. But now that I am better with both things, I want to go ahead in music and acting," he said.
Merchant has opened for Salman Khan at Dubai's 'Da-Bangg' concert
His career as a DJ started in 2020. Since then he has played at several events including Sunburn Holi and Bollyboom Holi. He has shared the stage alongside artists such as DJ Snake and Diljit Dosanjh and has done muti-city tours with Guru Randhawa. Merchant also opened the Da-Bangg - The Tour: Reloaded in Dubai for Salman Khan.
