IANS Interview: Paatal Lok S2 Star Cast Shares ‘how, as fans, they emphasize their character’

I think when you walk into a set like this, you know, where they've already created relationships, you know, this was a really tight set and a tight crew. They've worked together. They've created this incredible, you know, show and they've created incredible relationships with each other. So when you walk into it, you know, you are, you're embraced in that kind of warmth, but also you're quite aware that everyone knows their job really well and it's all great that you like them, but if you don't do your job, then, you know, it's very disappointing for yourself. So I had a lot of fun on this set, but I was very, very aware that anything that I felt like there was a day in which I felt I didn't perform very well, it really hurt. It hurt so much only because of the level of, you know, commitment that everyone had to the story and so I didn't feel it clouded, you know, my being a fan clouded my process in any way. In fact, it made the process even more sacred and in the sense that I really wanted to give it my best, you know, because this I knew this is a rare thing. It's not going to come again in my life to play a part like this. I don't know I'd ever think like that. The only thing I can say that I've already said it because of the rise of the OTT to the liberation that writers have and the directors and the I mean, who will write Pathalok for a film? I don't think. And but media and the life is so fast in these things. I think people pick it up very fast. Sudeep bhai's pen made an ordinary actor a little ordinary. That's what his pen is. That's what his words are. Otherwise, Ajay Dev was the same before. A writer showed so much trust in you. A maker showed so much trust in you that you do that and the rest is done. I think if you can't be part of that process, I think most of the time if it's not happening, it's because that unit is not one. My basic is that I want to fit in that puzzle. I want to fit in that unit where I work. I don't want to feel that I'm an actor, so the rest of the people make it for me. I really enjoy being a part of that process. So if it's good, it's good for everyone. If it's bad, it's bad for everyone. I don't want to be the only one responsible for a bad film. Because the rest of the people are also a part of it. And I don't want to be the only one responsible for the fact that it turned out great. Because the rest of the people are also a part of it. So my training is that, mentally. Preparation-wise, I was talking to Sudeep bhai and he told me to teach acting to people. I said it's a very difficult job. Because it's a very difficult job. But most of the time, I think 70-80% of the time, an actor has to be really aware of what's going on. What's happening, whether it's on a physical level or a mental level. When you're shooting a scene, half of it is solved with common sense. If you have an awareness of what you want, what your character is and what you want to do, and that becomes a balance. The rest of the 20% is, can you add something new to it? Can you make it a little better? We call it the magic touch. That happens later. The basics are very basic. Do you remember your lines? Do you know where you have to stand? When do you have to move? These are the basic requirements. Do you have to walk from here to there in this scene? Do you have to walk from there to sit here? Do you have to throw the utensils? Do you have to drink water here? These are the basic things. If your body is not in your control, if your mind is not in your control, if you're confused with so many things, and you're still thinking about what your line is going to be, then it becomes so basic. If you remember your lines well, then you'll be able to flow with them. But if the actor keeps thinking about what his next line is, or waits for you to finish your line, and then starts talking on this line. So now, your mind is occupied. You don't have any awareness of anything else. Do you have a glass next to you? If it can fall, can you give it a reaction? Because you're all the time thinking about your lines. If I may add, he's really the most aware actor I have worked with. And that is the first quality of his that comes to my mind when I think of him, is awareness. When he walks onto a set, he's completely aware of the props that are there, where the light is, where the camera is, where the other actor is going to be, what the other actor is doing, what he's saying. He's fully present. He is not one of those actors who is distracted, who's looking at his phone, or he has got 10 other things in his mind. He is fully there, 100%. Like, I remember when we were shooting the climax of season 1, it was Hathiram and Sanjeev Mehra. And Hathiram goes to Sanjeev Mehra's office, and he confronts him and tells him the whole story. So we blocked the scene, and then we were like, okay, let's shoot. And we start shooting. And before he starts talking, there was a little prop, one of those pelicans that you keep on the desk, and which go up and down. And before he starts talking, he says, I'll tell you a story, which was a line. And then he does this to the pelican, and it starts going like this. And then he starts talking. And when he finished his lines is when he stopped it, and he got up and left. And I was like, man, we never told him to do that. When did he find that out? What he did, the sharp actor that he is, he walked onto the set while we were blocking and rehearsing, we were doing our own thing. He walked around looking at the entire office. So that when he's walking into that set, he's not, oh, okay, he's sitting here, I'm sitting here, and what are the things. He's aware of everything that is there, and how to use them, and how to use them to his advantage, and how to use them to the advantage of the scene. It's a very rare, very beautiful quality to have. Articulate this, you know, because I think it's really changed over time. And it changes with every project. But I relate to what Jaydeep is saying. For me, at the moment, I am most open when I'm relaxed, you know, to possibilities. How a scene can play out in 100 different ways when I'm relaxed. And so all the work is before. I asked all my thousand questions to Sudheep, tried to change his dialogues, well-written dialogues, made those cardinal mistakes. I need to feel like, you know, I'm part of something, the people. And because I came out of two years of being a caregiver to a parent, and I realized in those two years how much I love what I do, and what it feels like when it's taken away, you know. And so when I came to the set of Paatal Lok, after that two year, I was in love with people, with life. And it was great. It was really great to just be on a set where you care for every person on that set. And I know that it doesn't come from a place of just liking people, because that's not the person I thought I am. It comes from really believing in a script. I think when you read something that makes you that happy, to just read, the excitement of putting your body to tell that story, to be a part of that story, the process for me was just one absolutely powered by a sense of absolute excitement and love for the story. So I think my sense of my process in this one, I had to learn, do some dialect training because she's from Nagaland. She's Assamese. And, you know, she works in Nagaland. So that Ahomya, a slight undertone with the Nagamese, those dialect things, these things help me a lot. Certain technical things which are unattainable when I start a project, gives me something to feel like I'm working because otherwise you don't trust your process when a script is so good. If that Nagamese wasn't there, I would have felt extremely nervous because I said, sab kuch toh ho gaya hai, Sudeep has done all the work. So I have to just show up and flow, you know. And thank God, I felt like I had, you know, something to do in terms of homework. But the process is really was being aware. I mean, you have actors like, you know, Jaideep to, you know, play off in a scene and a story like this where, you know, you are saying one line, but that line has so much in it. So just the pleasure of saying it, like it means very little, but it means so much, you know, just the pleasure of being able to just, it's small things, you know, being able to enjoy the small big things. And I think, yeah, just being relaxed, being open and just knowing you're surrounded by people who you really like and respect, actually. It makes a huge difference because these are long processes, you know. Jo jitna bhi abhi baat hui hai, usme yeh zarur hai ke, we are also very excited and waiting for the response of Pata, Loksri and Kutub. Humne bahut maharaj se banaya hai. Pata bahut saare logon ki bahut saare mahinat hai iske upar. Aur jaise Surya bhai ne toh dekh pehle kaha tha, ki uska base wahan se shuru hota, ki jo ho chuka tha, hum usko dobara nahi karna chahata hai. Wala, woh dobara nahi karna chahata hai, waha woh liberty hum tak monti hai. Itni si baat hai. Aur maine aaj pehli baar, abhi inhi ke haathon se trailer dekha hai, toh main thoda sa abhi zoned out. I'm just waiting for, ke log usko kaise receive karte hai.