How do you view your journey so far as an actor?
My journey so far has been, to say the least, very interesting and an absolute rollercoaster and it went on from doing theater to being a TV host to doing YouTube to doing voice work to music to acting …and just everything. It’s like a massive melting pot of things. I just think it’s just been very eventful and very giving and just a massive learning experience.
What brought you to the gigolo’s part in Amazon’s Rangeen?
Well, what brought me to Rangeen was an audition call and I mean, you know the basic thing of just hopefully getting new work and then I had the pleasure of reading the script and I was just like I was so excited by it because it was such a different story. It was such a unique story and especially the part I got to play first, of course like you know, it was it was very when you when you read about it and then you’re playing a gigolo, you’re a bit sceptical, but then you know when you read it, it’s not about that and the sensitivity it’s made in. It all made sense. So that was the start.
Were you nervous playing a sex worker?
I was nervous and I thought I needed to look a certain way. I started researching on how they keep themselves, they groom themselves, they behave, what are the ethics, what are the rules they follow and what are they like. Are they impersonal? Are they not personal? I just started seeing documentaries and stuff and then and it was fine because it was written in a way where it was not at all like you know…. It was dealt with a lot of sensitivity.
So your nervousness vanished?
Yes, it became incredible fun to play this part and especially with the series Waking of a Nation for me was….I’ve been very lucky to get that opportunity and I actually shot Rangeen way before Waking Of A Nation almost a year and a half or two before that show.
Rangeen and Waking Of A Nation couldn’t be more different?
I think as actors that’s our job we’re supposed to get into different skins of different characters. It doesn’t mean, it doesn’t necessarily rely on a trajectory of you know, of character as such. I think just to get into different skins and own them and have fun with them is I don’t feel less important. I feel like I’ve been blessed and I’ve been very lucky and I’m very grateful to even have gotten the opportunities that I have got. There are a lot of people who haven’t been that lucky also I’ve seen it and you know, it’s a tough city. It’s a tough industry to crack through and you know, you some things some powers are just not in your control.
What do you seek as an actor?
I always seem to seek something different from every character I play. I feel like anything that is to bring that character and make it identify with me is a lot of fun. I just feel like the more different parts I get to play that’s that’s what I seek. Like now that for example, I’ve done a few now I want to do something completely different again because I think that’s what keeps me interested in the whole idea. I mean, I’ll be honest yes, of course everyone feels like they could do a bit more and more and more. I feel every day that I could do a lot more and I want to do a lot more and I just hope I get the correct chances too. So yes, I want to do a lot more as an actor and of course, I really want to do a lot more, do a lot more things, play a lot more characters and actually even more explore my own range and increase it and just improve and just be better. I have done an independent film called Songs of Paradise which is on Amazon, with Soni Razdan and Sabaa Azad. That apart I have a lot of music coming out. So I’m very excited about that as well.
