Working with Shabana Azmi was special: The Empire's Rishabh Sawhney

Following a career in modelling and theatre, actor Rishabh Sawhney has made his on-screen debut with the recent series, The Empire. Directed by Mitakshara Kumar, the show features Rishabh as Babur's (Kunal Kapoor) brother Mehmood.

On working with veteran actor Shabana Azmi in the series, Rishabh shares, “Working with Shabana ma'am was special. In my first ever show, I have a scene with her and that in itself fulfils a lot of checkpoints in my list. I was nervous until the camera started rolling. But once we began shooting, the nervousness vanished. Shabana ma'am is very humble and down to earth. She would interact with us during the shoot so that made us feel comfortable.”

Rishabh referred to a lot of historical content to get accustomed to his part. Bingeing world television, too, came in handy.

"I’m fond of Game of Thrones," Rishabh shares. "I’ve also seen a lot of Greek mythological shows. To prepare for this show, I watched Portugal Ghazi. It’s a brilliant show that really helped with my prep. I also read Empire of the Moghul by Alex Rutherford, on which the series is based. I also watched films like Jodha Akbar, Padmavat, Bajirao Mastani that are based on Mughals in India to understand the nuances."

The Empire is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

You can read our review of the series here - The Empire Review