Meet Solanki Diwaker - A talented actor of Dream Girl fame who sells fruits on the streets of Delhi for a living

A Potpourri of Vestiges Exclusive

By Murtaza Ali Khan
Solanki Diwaker, Dream Girl, Sonchiriya, Titli, Kadvi Hawa, Actor, Mandi House
Actor Solanki Diwaker 

INDIA. New Delhi. September 19, 2019

Everyday he wakes up early morning so that he can quickly rush to Okhla Sabzi Mandi in order to load his cart with fresh fruits which he later sells in South Delhi's posh locality of Malviya Nagar. But he is not a regular fruit seller. He is an actor whose credits include films like Titli, Kadvi Hawa, Halkaa, Bhor, and Sonchiriya. Most recently he starred in Dream Girl wherein he shares a memorable scene with veteran actor Annu Kapoor. "I play the part of a bank official who collects the installments for bank loans. Now, Annu Sir's character hasn't paid the bank installment for the last three months and so I visit him to give a gentle reminder. It's a funny scene that's mostly improvised. I got my dialogues and character briefing on the spot and so I had to deliver the shot after a few rehearsals. In fact, my character didn't even have a name in the script and it was Annu Sir who impromptu came up with the name Mithilesh while improvising his dialogue," recollects Solanki Diwaker.     
Dream Girl, Annu Kapoor, Aushmann Khurrana
Solanki Diwaker (centre) in Dream Girl
actor Solanki Diwaker
A rendezvous with Solanki Diwaker
Originally hailing from a small town called Achhnera in the Agra district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Solanki came to Delhi at the age of 13. He did all kinds of work ranging from sweeping to ironing but acting has always been his first love. "My friend had a canteen at a local cinema hall. After returning from school I used to spend the rest of my day at the theatre. During the interval time I used to go inside the hall to sell papad. That's how I would get a glimpse of the heroes and heroines on the big screen. It was really magic for me to see such lively images on a humongous screen and it remains a magic till date," chuckles Solanki. 

Sonchiriya Actor, gun, bandit, dacoit
Solanki Diwaker in Sonchiriya
Before getting his first break with Kanu Bahl's Titli his passion for acting remained mostly inhibited. All he could do in the name of acting all these years was to imitate popular actors like Shah Rukh Khan. But his passion for acting kept on growing stronger. While working at a filmmaker's house in Delhi about a decade he got the realization that maybe the world of movies is not as far-fetched as it has seemed to him for years. And since then he has never really looked back. While the acting jobs aren't coming his way on a regular basis he is quite determined to make most of what comes his way. He is fully aware at this point in his career he cannot hope to make a living from the acting jobs that come his and so he is happy selling fruits as long as it secures a living for him. If he isn't too tired he likes to hang around Mandi House with fellow struggling actors during the evenings but only when he is able to make some profits from his sales.

Note: Since this story came out in A Potpourri of Vestiges, The Quint too has done a feature story on Solanki Diwaker. Subsequently, Solanki Diwaker's story has appeared in several leading newspapers, magazines, online portals, and television channels.

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