By Akshay Acharya

Mumbai, Jul 13 (IANS): Actor Arjun Mathur, who is amping up the thrill in the recently released second season of the OTT show ‘The Gone Game, didnt read the script for the show for both the seasons. And the reason behind that is fairly simple - he wanted to be in the dark just like his character in the show.

Arjun recently spoke with IANS about his approach to the character, having a production designer as a partner and the liberation that the medium of OTT has brought for film and television artists.

Explaining the trajectory of his character, he told IANS, "For my character in this season, nothing and I mean nothing is going according to the plan. In season 1 he was very much in control of the situation, but now he finds himself in a vortex. In both the seasons I did not read the script because I wanted to experience that sense and feeling of uncertainty and a certain madness that this character entails."

He continued, "The reason behind that is that my character in both the seasons is completely on his own journey. Sahil is completely separated from the other characters, I didn't shoot for any of the sequences with my fellow actors, who play my family in this series because of that it was very easy for me to choose to not read the script and to be in the dark about how things would unfold at every step of the narrative."

Season 1 of the show had a very frugal set-up thanks to the pandemic. The actors in the show had to shoot for their parts from the confines of their houses. Recollecting his experience, the actor said that he had an edge over actors from the series because his partner is a production designer, that made things very simple for him giving him the head space to focus more on the character.

He shared, "I am very fortunate because my partner is a production designer by profession so that helped me a lot during the first season of ‘The Gone Game'. While all of us were shooting for our respective parts from the confines of our houses, I had the added advantage of having a production designer with me and that changed things radically."

The second season of the show however, cranks the production design and art direction up a notch but for him, it's like working in just another show that he has shot for. "Honestly, the second season is not very unique from the perspective of the set-up", he said.

When asked if the medium of OTT gives more room to actors to experiment and take risks, he gave a very thoughtful response, "There's a certain breed of actors who has been always experimenting irrespective of the social landscape for the mediums of entertainment."

He mentioned, "They have always been trying to push the boundaries of our content and cinema, it's just that all the talent earlier didn't have the opportunity or the platform to showcase their prowess. Unfortunately, that's the way the market runs, it's an economical model at the end of it. You have to ensure box office returns for someone to place confidence in you and make content with you, whether you are a writer, technician or any other film or television artist."

"Now that we have put the box office pressure behind us, it's very liberating and as a result storytellers, filmmakers or actors can now make more brave choices, more authentic choices that bring out different stories from the remotest corners of this planet", he concluded.

'The Gone Game 2' is currently streaming on OTT platform Voot Select.