Bhumi Pednekar: Films currently playing in theatres are so loud, I zone out
Do all princes need to know how to ride a horse? Ishaan Khatter disagrees. How about having six-pack abs? The actor chuckles before putting on a serious face. “I am offended. It’s an eight-pack.”
Ishaan plays the quintessential royal scion in Netflix’s upcoming rom-com The Royals. He slips into the shiny shoes of Aviraaj Singh, a privileged, polo-playing, haughty prince of the estate of Morpur. The empire, though, is waning. The royal family is in debt. Enter Bhumi Pednekar’s girlboss Sophia Shekhar, the CEO of a hospitality company who has grand plans to make the palace a “Royal bread and breakfast” experience. Aviraaj is arrogant, Sophia is determined. The palatial corridors will go head-on with corporate glass cabins, but love will bloom, eventually.
The series, directed by Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana, also features an impressive ensemble of Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar, Dino Morea, Chunky Pandey, Milind Soman, Nora Fatehi, Vihaan Samat and Sumukhi Suresh, among others. We talk to Ishaan and Bhumi about getting into their characters, playing off with other actors and why rom-coms have disappeared from Hindi cinema.
Bhumi, you said recently that this character of CEO Sophia Shekhar is the closest to your personality and it is difficult for you to play such characters. Why is that?
Bhumi Pednekar: I am the most comfortable in front of a camera and I think it is because I get to be somebody else. I have to only deal with the character’s life, and her conflicts. This was the first time that these conflicts felt so real and so personal that it was difficult for me to detach myself. So, you automatically become a lot more vulnerable. A lot of stuff Sophia goes through in the series, I have faced too. Sophia is a self-made woman; she is driven, ambitious. She doesn’t know what she is really seeking. She wants love but is afraid it will distract her from her goals. I've had a similar journey. In the past ten years, I have made a space in this industry and I felt close to Sophia’s character. Hence, at times, it became difficult to play her. It got too real.
Ishaan, what is your opinion on this? Is it tough to play characters close to your personality?
Ishaan Khatter: It depends. I am one of those people who don’t feel burdened by acting. It is a very cathartic process for me. So, if a character is closer to my personality, it gives me an opportunity for self-expression and ultimately makes me feel lighter. For a lot of people, doing an emotionally intense scene can leave them feeling heavy. However, after I do a heavy scene, I like to laugh a lot in order to come back to normalcy.
You play a haughty prince. How did you approach the character?
IK: For me, what was important was to find the humanity in this character. More so, because there is such a strong exterior to him and he is kind of struggling with it. He is also running away from the responsibility of being a king. He feels like he will have to let go of his being once he wears that crown. But beyond all that, Aviraaj is actually a young man struggling to come to terms with his childhood and his relationship with his parents, which is all of us, in some way.
The show has such a humongous ensemble. You have actors with such varied levels of experiences. There are veterans like Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar and also relatively newbies like Vihaan Samat and Sumukhi Suresh. Is it different when you are playing off actors who are more experienced than you compared to those who are in the same age-bracket?
BP: I think a lot of this is solved by strong writing. You know the kind where you don’t have to fight for your space or fight for the basic understanding of what the scene requires. I didn’t have many scenes with Zeenat and Sakshi ma’am but even in those few ones they were so warm, accommodating and enthusiastic about being a part of that scene, improvising, giving a better take. It put me at ease as well and I never felt like ‘oh, they are senior actors, maybe I can’t ask for another take.’ With Ishaan, I felt like we had a beautiful working relationship where we learned how to work around each other and understand the similarities and also the differences in each other’s processes.
IK: I won’t say that with actors your age the chemistry can be easier to attain compared to those who are senior to you. Yes, maybe there can be a comfort level and less of a filter while working with a contemporary. It’s also true that your off-screen chemistry can really inform the chemistry on-screen. You can do all the work in the world but there is this magic which occurs when two actors play off each other. There is a third energy which is unexplainable..
There has been a dearth of rom-com in Hindi cinema, which was once known only for its romances. OTT has more crime and drama, while theatres are inundated with larger-than-life films….
BP: I think it is cyclical. In late 80s also rom-coms were not being made but then in the 90s production houses like Yash Raj (Films) and Dharma (Productions) came and brought a little disruption to the genre with their visuals and certain evolved themes and got that audience back. I am a big fan of rom-coms and in the last few years it seems like for an audience like me there is nothing to watch on the big screen. I love going to the cinema and lately the films that are playing in theatres are so loud that I actually zone out (laughs). Maybe I am not the audience for them.
Do you guys have a favourite rom-com film?
BP: I love Kal Ho Naa Ho, also Jab We Met.
IK: You stole my pick! (Jab We Met) (laughs). But I have another, 10 Things I Hate About You.