Meiyang Chang became a part of our collective consciousness when he entered the finals of Indian Idol’s 3rd season. That led to a career in singing, anchoring and acting, with him making his acting debut with the Yashraj production Badmaash Company. He’s also been part of the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4 which he won and Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 6, where he was the first runner up.
On the acting front, he’s been seen in Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Sultan and Bharat while his web series CV comprises Asur, Undekhi and Modern Love Mumbai. And now, in theatres is his latest Ulajh, starring Janhvi Kapoor, Gulshan Devaiah and Roshan Matthew.
Chang plays one of the officials at the IFS, where Janhavi has come in as the very young boss. Whether he is for her or against her and what happens thereof is where the mystery lies.
Director Sudhanshu Saria was specifically looking at Chang for the role, so there weren’t any auditions involved. “What interested me about the film was that in India, we’ve not had this kind of a spy diplomatic thriller. We’ve had very hyper patriotic films which have a fan base of their own. Or action packed stuff with not much of a story, and this was different, having an exciting film without bombs going off or bullets being fired. And though I’m not from the north-east, it was a new learning for me to discover that a lot of people from northeast are at very important positions within the echelons of national security,” Chang told us.
On set, with Janhvi there was minimal interaction since they were busy just shooting, and also because a certain amount of distance had to be maintained since their scenes were very intense.
However, he vouches for the fact that she is very hard working and he loves her choice of scripts. While he found Roshan to be an honest and vulnerable person, the closest he got was with Gulshan, since the both have known each other for quite some time, though they never hung out.
Chang admires him for his acting chops and they bonded on old Hindi songs. Talking about old Hindi songs, one of his recent collaborations with legendary writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, who was one of the judges during Chang’s Indian Idol stint.
Javed hosted a show called Main Koi Aisa Geet Gaoon, about unheard stories behind famous songs, while Chang would be singing those classic numbers. They’ve performed together for the IP at various places like Dubai, with the most recent show being in Kolkata, and he credits the veteran for giving great life lessons and also Urdu lessons and in the most supportive, happy way. With Indian Idol coming into the conversation, we ask Chang, a professionally trained dentist, about his shift from the medical profession to showbiz.
“I had finished my degree in 2005 and by 2006 was practising in Bangalore. The idea to take part in Indian Idol was that of my rakhi sister from Kolkata, who had been telling me since my third year in college about it. But obviously, my focus was on academics, because medical and dental is no joke. You really have to study hard. Also, I come from a family of dentists. The reason I ended up going was because it would be a fun experience and once I started working i would never get the time for something like this. The plan was to go abroad, where a lot of my family was and pursue the profession there, as in India the level of competition is very high,” Chang told us.
A third generation Indian-Chinese, most of his family were born and brought up in India, because of which he doesn’t feel Chinese at all, and considers himself extremely Indian in many ways, with his friends telling him that he is a curious mix of Jharkhand (where he was born) and a bit of everywhere he’s lived since: Uttarakhand, Bangalore and now Mumbai. While what mystery he holds close to his heart in Ulajh you can go see in the theatres, when at home one can listen to one of his recent compositions, the interestingly named Jhoothi Chai, a break up song of sorts.
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