By Ila Sankrityayan
New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS): Actress Gauahar Khan calls her role in the web series 'Bestseller' as a 'dream role' for her. She opens up about her character and the challenges faced by her to make it look more realistic.
Gauahar says: "It's a dream role. If you think about the length of my character, Mayanka, she is there everywhere, in all the episodes and all the happenings of the story. If you see from a performance point of view, Mayanka has a multifaceted character, you can say she is the craziest graph of the show. And she is somehow related to all the other characters of the show. She is not linear. She is not only Tahir's (Arjan Bajwa) wife, but she also has her own complexities in her work life. So, this role is something that came to me because of my prayers."
Gauahar's character is not simple and it has a lot of complexities. And making these kinds of roles appealing and realistic is always a challenging job for an actor. Gauahar shares all those challenges she faced while playing it.
"I think the biggest challenge was to keep it as real and not make it, you know, look filmy. I think in any kind of thriller, there will be screams and blood, there will be suspense, there will be shocks here and there. And for it to be very realistic is a challenge that comes through with Mayanka's character. I understood her emotions while reading the script. I just wanted to keep her as real and relatable as possible."
She elaborates about the efforts put by her to get into the skin of character. The actress says: "We had a lot of table reads as a unit, all the characters knew exactly the parts and the relation and correlation with everything else that's happening on the show. Every time we asked our director Mukul Abhyankar a question, he knew exactly the answer and reason behind every situation. As to why something needs to happen, or why it doesn't need to happen.
"You know, film and television or any visual medium is actually a director's medium. So, you have to kind of take the director's lead and go with how he perceives it, because he sees an entire picture. Our director kept everyone together, and directed all of us into one particular direction, to make 'Bestseller' as believable and as thrilling as possible. I think that's what helped in making my character stay true to what she was."
She gives credit to director Mukul Abhyankar for trying to give his best to the project and thinking about the needs of every actor.
"I think Mukul Abhyankar has poured his heart and soul into this project. I mean, he was involved on a very personal level. He made sure that as actors the kind of needs we had to perform, he catered to that. He gave us the time when we needed it. He was so kind and after every day he would say thank you. If there was even a slight delay in taking a shot he would come up and say, 'sorry for delay' and no one really does that. No one really caters to the needs of actors so much. There's a lot of credit that he deserves for making 'Bestseller'."
'Bestseller' is a psychological thriller, which features actors such as Mithun Chakraborty, Shruti Haasan, Arjan Bajwa, Gauahar Khan, Satyajeet Dubey and Sonalee Kulkarni in prominent roles
The 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania' actress shares her working experience with co-actors and especially with Mithun Chakraborty and says he is a fabulous actor and there is a lot that she learned from him.
"Mithun da is fabulous to work around. He is a school actually, there's so much to learn from him. He actually teaches everyone around what it is to be an absolute natural actor. There's so much that I learned from him. He's a fun person. He is such a big star but he is just so friendly. Always keeps cracking jokes around us. I just loved working with him. It was a great working atmosphere, whenever we're off, we have a lot of fun."
She recalls a few behind-the-camera moments and the most memorable one was while the entire crew was shooting at Neemrana Fort in Alwar, Rajasthan.
"We all had a great time. In fact, we all used to have our lunches and dinners together. There was always great food because the production really pampered us with amazing food. And especially on one night in Neemrana Fort we were shooting and the entire fort was supposed to be lit in one second. It was darkness and the entire fort behind us came to light.
"It was just breathtaking to see the entire fort light up in front of us in a matter of seconds. It was just the best experience and we were just in awe of it and it was so cold. We were all freezing like I had to be wearing this backless gown and I had no winter wear. I will never forget all these moments, especially lighting up the fort within seconds," she concludes.
Produced by Siddharth Malhotra's Alchemy Production LLP and directed by Mukul Abhyankar, 'Bestseller' will be streaming from February 18 on Prime Video.