INTERVIEW | Kabir Pahwa, A 9-Year-Old From Gurugram, Who Sent Chills Down Many Spines As Young Ticket In Toxic

Nine-year-old child actor Kabir Pahwa landed his breakout role as the young version of Yash's character (Ticket) in Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups after impressing director Geetu Mohandas and the team with a powerful audition. This was about two years back and he recalls enacting an emotional and lengthy scene from a Hollywood movie.

“I was seven at that point of time ...the scene was about a son losing his father in a war and he comes to know about the tragedy over the phone. I had to act as a helpless son and weep on learning that my ‘father’ is dying. The director loved my performance and then I was given a scene from Toxic,” Pahwa, a resident of Gurugram, tells ETV Bharat in an exclusive conversation. The young actor is known for his work in projects like Shastry Viruddh Shastry, Opium, Raakh, and now the defining project -- Toxic that could be the turning point in his career.

“My performance is being appreciated, the response has been really very nice,” says Pahwa, who was noticed immediately after Toxic’s trailer was released. "Many people told me I gave chills to their spine. Some people said I was very natural, some said I looked scary but most felt I acted well,” he says. “I wasn’t scared doing any scene, I just wanted to live up to the expectations of the audience,” he adds.

In Yash's Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, a period action thriller set in the post-independence era around 1947, the role of Ticket forms an important part of the narrative. The Kannada superstar plays the adult Ticket; the younger version is portrayed by Pahwa. At a tender age, Pahwa pulled off an extensive underwater sequence that is crucial to the events shown in the movie. He performed a demanding car-drowning sequence inside a 17-foot-deep pool without using VFX for which he underwent four months of continuous swimming training to safely handle the deep-water underwater shots.

While Pahwa has not watched the film due to its 'A' rated certificate, he says that the drowning scene is his favourite and that his ‘favourite’ actor Yash supported him throughout and prioritised his safety during the scene. Pahwa credits star Yash and director Geetu Mohandas for guiding him through the intense filming process and ensuring his safety. “Geetu ma’am is a perfectionist; I needed to deliver the best. The brief from her was to be perfect and be the best,” says Pahwa.

“The car drowning scene is my favourite. I took up swimming classes for four months. It was a really nice experience for me under the water, and I gave it my best. Yash sir made me feel very comfortable throughout the making of the film. He made sure that I would go inside the water safely and made sure nothing happened to me. Heater was organised for me; there were two spot boys and other team members who looked after me. Swimming underwater was challenging and the other challenge was keeping my eyes open,” he says.

Pahwa began his acting career with Shastry Viruddh Shastry, a family drama released in 2023. “I loved the experience of doing the film and that is how I decided to continue in this profession,” says Pahwa, who was discovered by an Ad director while on a holiday on a beach. In Shastry Viruddh Shastry Pahwa plays a seven-year-old Yaman Shastry, who helps bind the family together, lives in his grandparents' care and his parents visit him on weekends. Things get twisted when ‘Yaman's’ father gets a chance to settle in the United States but Rawal’s character, Manohar Shastry a.k.a Guruji is unwilling to let ‘Yaman’ go.

This was followed by Opium (unreleased), an anthology comprising five unique stories stringed together with the theme of religion and faith. These intriguing stories gradually progress from dystopian to utopian settings. In one of the stories Pahwa plays Mohammad, a poor Muslim boy who tries to find some cow dung for his Hindu friend. Pahwa was recently seen in the 2026 crime thriller web series Raakh on Amazon Prime Video. “While I was waiting for the release of some of my projects that I have already shot, the last two years I focused only on Toxic, I have been majorly working on this film,” he says.

And, it is a Hollywood project -- Who are you, Nanu? a short film shot entirely in Varanasi that Pahwa is most excited about. After her grandfather's (Nanu's) ceremonial cremation that brings nine-year-old ‘Isha’ to Ganges River in India, she befriends the phantom of her Nanu's rambunctious seven-year-old self and discovers the journey after death.

“It is a very nice movie. It is basically about me being a young ghost of a 91-year-old grandfather who is dead and my character is seen having fun with the grand-daughter and in the evening, he disappears,” reveals Pahwa.

Pahwa, as of now, is very clear about his future plans and he says he wants to continue being an actor for the rest of his life. “The only reason being I got my heart into acting and no other profession. I might have a second career but I would want acting to be my first. If I don't become an actor I might start my own YouTube channel or I might become a filmmaker, who knows? I would like to be in the business of movie making some way or the other,” he says.

Ask him who are his favourite actors and he promptly asks – “You mean who is my idol?”

“I watch most of Hritik Roshan’s films, I also watch Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Yash Sir’s movies. These are the actors who inspire me to become an actor. I learn a lot about acting from these actors. My most favourite film is Chak De India. I watched that film six times back-to-back. It is inspirational. I was like "Wow!”

“I used to observe Mr Paresh Rawal perform when we did Shastry, then I was watching Yash Sir intently when he was performing the car scene in Toxic,” he further says.

Pahwa signs off saying, “I feel proud being an actor. I love seeing myself on screen. But yes, there are some cons of being an actor …actually there is only one disadvantage …I miss out on sports sometimes…especially my football tournaments. But it is fine because I will always get another chance to participate in tournaments, whereas in films if I miss out on a role that opportunity will never come to me again.”