Watch Vikram's life story on screen

If all goes well and actor-producer Vikram Arya's debut film Tale Bachkoli Powder Hakkoli makes an impact at the box office, his will, quite literally, be a rags-to-riches story. Hailing from a family of menial labourers in Hubballi, a career in films was never in his scheme of things, even though watching up to four films a day was often part of his daily routine.'I have three great passions in life: eating well, driving and watching movies. There have been times when I have gone to a theatre for the morning show and left after the last show, watching the film four times back-to-back. That's the extent of my craze for films. For me, it was never about getting into the industry. I just enjoyed watching them,' he says. Eventually, though, the acting bug bit Vikram and he landed in Bengaluru to try his luck. 'I did not get any opportunity and since I am the kind of person who does not like to be humiliated, I decided that if I ever act, I will do it in my own film. Once I made up my mind to produce a film, I sold a plot of land that we had in the heart of Hubballi and set out to find a director with a good script. I must have met at least 15-20 filmmakers before I chanced upon Venugopal, who has made my film. At first, I did not tell him that I wanted to act in the film. In my capacity as producer, I said that I'd like him to see a few pictures of a friend of mine, and sent him my own photos. Venugopal seemed OK with my choice of hero and wanted to meet and it is only then that he realized that it was me only,' explains the debutant. The story of the film, says Vikram, is very close to his real life. 'There are several instances, at least 30%, that I felt were about my own life, right from my childhood. And these are not things that I got him to write, they were already there in his script during our first narration session. The story revolves around two guys played by Chikkanna and me, who are set to commit suicide on a railway track after certain failures in life. But before we could go ahead with our plans, we meet Ramesh Bhat, who offers us an opportunity to make something of our lives, while also helping him to settle a score with the villain, played by Shobhraj. How we go about doing that forms the rest of the story,' says Vikram.