1. What inspired you to pursue a career in acting, and what’s been your most memorable role so far?
I feel I have always been creatively inclined from the time I was a little kid. Then, I got a little older, I got into advertising when I got into college. I was quite creative in that aspect as well with copywriting and stuff. I started directing a lot of short films, writing stuff, shooting things in a very funky and different manner. The mind was always thinking from a creative standpoint. I aspire to be a writer and director. For that, I realised it’s important for me to spend some time on-set and hence I enrolled myself as an assistant director. I was an AD for over 2.5 years and during that period, I realised that there’s something magical that happens in front of the camera when a person just switches on their acting mode and goes to play a character, the director says cut and he or she switches it off and then goes back to square one. That’s when the acting bug really hit me and I felt that’s the right field for me and that’s how my journey unfolded. There have been some really memorable roles. Of course, you never forget your first one and you are always proud of that. However, from a larger standpoint, it would be ‘Inside Edge’ because I really had my back against my wall in terms of career. That particular show gave me the wings to express myself and made me two things I loved the most together which is acting and cricket. It really catapulted me into the next league and phase of my career. Also, got to play that three times in my career because we had 3 seasons and so that was awesome.
2. How do you prepare for your characters, and what’s your process for getting into their mindset?
Well, I definitely start with the physicality of the characters, how do they walk, how do they talk, are they ripped or skinny and everything. Then you start getting into dialogue delivery and other things like their pace of speaking, do they speak quickly or slowly, confident tone or under-confident tone, do they make eye contact or not, I feel all these things are very vital. As a guy, you get to play with your facial beard etc in terms of whether he has a beard, stubble, clean-shaven, moustache, manicure, colour of hair, eyes, etc, there are so many different things. I also write back stories for each of my characters because that helps me give perspective. You can’t figure where a character is going until you know where they have come from. Be it their childhood stories, their formative years and all of that. We sit with the writers, directors and henceforth, on this note, we are always well prepared before starting a character.
3. You’ve worked in both films and web series. How do you think the two mediums differ, and which one do you prefer?
I feel if you are working with a good banner with good co-stars and technicians, there isn’t much of a difference in terms of doing a film or a web series. Of course, the format is different. In a film, you got a beginning, a middle and an end with an interval block. For a web series, the formats are lot longer and you got a lot of screen time to develop your character arc. Also, the budgets are slightly higher for films, especially if its a theatrical release. So you end up shooting 3-4 pages in a day. If you are doing a web series, depending on the budgetary constraints, you could shoot upto 7-8 pages in a day and so you really have to be on the money. You don’t have as many retakes. Sometimes, you really have to hit the ground running. But apart from this, I don’t think there’s a different method that I apply depending on the medium. When the material and character speaks to you, you just need to do it authentically. You can’t think about that because even if it’s a theatrical release, eventually it will also come later on one of the OTT platforms. So it becomes the same thing. You just have to understand the tonality and the syntax of the world that the director is trying to show and make sure that all the performances are on the same level. It can’t be different as then, it will seem a little jarring.
4. What’s been the most challenging project you’ve worked on, and how did you overcome any obstacles?
A couple of them come to my mind. One of them would be ‘Cartel’ because we shot it before the pandemic and during the pandemic lockdowns as well. Henceforth, it was a long and intense shoot with a couple of physical injuries. Unfortunately, ended up having fractures since there was a lot of hand to hand action and combat involved in the process, lots of gunfight etc. It was also difficult to maintain the consistency of the character over such a long time. Another one that comes to my mind is ‘Tandoor’. I gained a lot of weight for it, I had to unlearn a lot of things and had to completely give away any sort of dignity or vanity I had as an actor and try to become heinous monster that the character demanded me to be. This was the first time I played a character that was inspired by a real life person and hence, I had to go that extra mile to lend that authenticity to make it believable. We never wanted to glorify his deed. We just wanted to show the audience that this is what took place and now you be the judge whether he was obsessive or crazy. That was hard to experience. I had to go to pretty dark places. I am not a trained actor and so I have to flesh out a certain character and tap certain emotions, I have to find things that I have done in my own life. Of course, I have never done heinous things like these so it was difficult to be there and then come out of it because otherwise, it can get very unhealthy mentally.
5. Who are some of your biggest influences in the industry, and why?
Some of my biggest influences in the industry are actors such as Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, and wonderful directors such as Karan Johar, Sriram Raghavan, Rajkumar Hirani, Anurag Kashyap, Anurag Basu, Imtiaz Ali. There’s so much to learn from all of them because they have great work ethics. Being talented is one of thing but I truly believe that without commitment, you will never begin in this field and without consistency, you will never finish. I feel these are the guys who raise the bar and because of them, the rest of us have to keep pace with them because at the end of the day, we are all playing in the same sandbox. So, I really look up to these guys. There are obviously many more. But these are some of the names.
6. How do you handle criticism or negative feedback about your performances?
I feel that as long as criticism is warranted and constructive, I am all ears. I want to hear the feedback from my fans, audience, well-wishers, friends, family everyone to understand how I can get better. But also, at times, there’s criticism and hatred at times just for the sake of it without reason or logic. That’s something I don’t take seriously because even they don’t know what they are talking. So, you need to mentally understand what is happening and what is truthful. You need to filter with with finely-toothed comb, take whatever works for you and just discard the rest.
7. What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects or roles you’re excited about?
Well, there’s Murshid which is a father-son story, I am playing a cop for the first time with Kay Kay Menon and Zakir Hussain alongside me. I play Kay Kay Menon’s son and it’s out on ZEE5 on 30th August. After that, there’s a really quirky film called ‘Johnny Jumper’ where I play a guy from Bhopal who’s a cable operator but also an undercover mole for local law enforcement there. Through a series of unfortunate events, he finds himself embroiled in a scam. That has got Brijendra Kalra, Zarina Wahab, Zakir Hussain alongside myself. I have got a show with Applause called ‘DAU’ aka ‘Domestic Anti-Terrorist Unit Mumbai’ that has Mustafa Burman and Rahul Dev in it. I also have a rom-com that’s tentatively titled ‘Puppy Love’ and it has Tridha Choudhary, Divya Agarwal and Nikki Tamboli in it. I am currently shooting for the second season of Rana Naidu with Rana Daggubati, Venkatesh sir, Surveen Chawla and lots of exciting additions to the second season. So yes, these are some of my exciting projects going forward.
8. What advice would you give to aspiring actors trying to make it in the industry?
You need to put in the time. You can’t work hard three days in a week and sit backside for the remaining four. You have to be consistent and you need to be hungry. You need to want to be the best version of yourself. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. You need to tap out your own potential and that’s what matters. No matter how hard you try to become the next Shah Rukh Khan or Ranbir Kapoor, no matter how hard you try, you will always fail because they have a certain USP that sets them apart. Find that USP in yourself and maximise that. You need to treat yourself as a brand and a product and in every few months, conduct a S.W.O.T analysis for yourself to understand yourself better. Keep working on your skill set because you need to be the jack of all trades. Also, times are changing rapidly. For example, when I became an actor, there were just films or TV. Now, the entertainment landscape has opened up in such a dramatic fashion. You have got people. There are people from all spheres making it and you need to understand that it’s a constantly evolving beast and hence that’s now you need to pitch yourself.
