Bihar-born Prabhakar Sharan's success story of becoming an actor will inspire several of his ilk. Sharan has made it big as an actor, but not in any Indian film industry.
He is a rising star in the Latin American country Costa Rica, and has given the film industry there one of the biggest hits of 2017.
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Sharan's journey of becoming an actor was not easy. The Wire reported in 2016 that Sharan wanted to become an actor in Bollywood and even tried his luck, but all in vain.
He then moved to Costa Rica and opened a chain of Indian clothing stores and restaurants in 2010. Six years later, Sharan decided to bring Bollywood movies to theatres in Costa Rica.
"My company was the first to bring Bollywood movies commercially to Central America," he told the Press Trust of India in an interview.
When he was in Costa Rica, he married a local girl, but things didn't work for him professionally and personally. He moved to India and even divorced his wife. In 2014, he decided to move back to Costa Rica and make a movie. Teresa Rodriguez Cerdas, a university owner, educationist and philanthropist, helped Sharan.
"She took my dream as her own and helped me generate a sum of $1.5 million for the movie," he said.
His efforts finally paid off when the film Enredados: La Confusion, made in typical Bollywood style, became a huge hit in the country. The film, which was released in February, struck gold at the box office.
The distributor, Cinepolis, is now planning to release the film in other Latin American countries and in the US this year. Sharan also plans to release the film in India in English, Hindi and Bhojpuri this year.
The film has received praise from Indian diplomats in Latin America.
"The movie is a proud step which will create the landmark in the Latin cinema industry, it promotes our culture and it's a fusion of Indian and Latin cinema...," PTI quoted Sandeep Chakravorty, the former Indian Ambassador to Peru and the Consulate General of India in New York, as saying.
"Prabhakar Sharan is the flower of my garden and he has taken the first step to open a big market in Latin America for Bollywood. The movie entertains local community in our big Bollywood style," said Shamma Jain, Ambassador of India for Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua.
