Actor Amit Sadh, who is all geared up for the release of the second season of the streaming series ‘Duranga’, revealed that the character he is portraying in the show, is his kind of tribute to superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s role in the movie ‘Darr’.
‘Duranga’ is the Indian adaptation of the popular K-drama ‘Flower of Evil’, and is gearing up for its return with the highly anticipated second season. Amit, who left audiences intrigued with his brief appearance in season one, is all set to take centre stage in season two.
He will be seen playing Sammit Patel.Speaking to IANS, Amit talked about his character's graph, challenges of the role, his approach and more.Amit said: “More than evolving, my character is waking up. Sammit is a character shrouded with mystery and intrigue. For me the script of the show had a very unique and gripping storyline and that really caught my attention.”
On the kind of challenges that he faced to portray the role, Amit shared: “The biggest aspect was to understand the physicality and the emotional depth of the character.“Once you understand the emotions and intentions of this character and then to understand the complex motivations, and once you understand the complexes of the inner world, and then you create a body language accordingly that aligns with their emotional state, this was the intriguing part for me.”
The ‘Sultan’ fame actor said: “This was the fun part for me to understand the body language, to understand what a character would be like when he is in a coma for 14 years. I have never been in a coma.
“How will their spine be, their muscles be, you know this character is very child-like, his innocence. As humans we are fabricated with control, we also have this consciousness to understand between good and bad, wrong and right. And this character is pretty lost from that. He doesn’t have that understanding and that bandwidth with his mental being.”
“To kind of allow him to go on those extreme pulses, was something which we had to set parameters around and then let him react in a way I have never reacted.“It’s like when you see a character like ‘Joker’ you see Joaquin Phoenix, there is this restraint and then there is let go. And then me, I am a huge fan of Jack Nicholson-he played this role in the film titled ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'," he said.
Amit said: "And then we have a prime example of ‘Darr’. This is my tribute to ‘Darr’. My tribute to Shahrukh Khan sir’s portrayal of Rahul Mehta. Though we can’t touch what he did, and that also like 20-30 years back, well this is my kind of tribute to him."
The 1993 psychological romantic thriller film ‘Darr: A Violent Love Story’ stars Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan in the lead roles. SRK played the character of an obsessive lover of Kiran (Juhi) and a psychotic serial killer.
If the role had a mental and physical toll on him?
Amit said: “you have to understand the key to keep people to entertain and give Sammit Patel whom they may be love to hate, but balancing the disturbing nature of my character, with ordeals engagement, involves finding that fine line between repulsion and fascination, which also adds depth to the storytelling.”
“So for me the aim was to create a character that evokes strong emotions while ensuring that the viewers are not only captivated but also intrigued, by the complexity of the role, or the way I have portrayed it. More than a toll, I feel it’s our jobs. I don't like to be a cry baby, and a victim that oh this character messed me up,” he shared.
“But yeah I had to get into the intricacies of his mental state, but that also helped me to convey the turmoil about him convincingly. I had the courage to give this character everything. I have not held back. Sometimes you hold back because of unsurety and fear, and you sometimes cannot draw enough courage.”
Amit said he made sure that he kept the courage and immersed himself so deeply, in Sammit’s disturbed psyche, and his personal challenges, and there were moments of darkness which felt very unnerving to him. “But I was ready to take this journey.”
On whether he took references from the original K-drama ‘Flower of Evil’, Amit said: “the creative team and Goldie Behl, and our writer Charudutt Acharya, they did a great job. So, for my character Goldie has specially sat down and written. Because when I did season one, I was only told it was a three day part, and I read the script, I had to come, be in coma, and I signed the show without knowing what will happen in season 2.”
“So, it did take a lot of leap of faith for me. And Goldie promised me this. And he is so proud and happy, and told me that ‘I have written your character myself’. I hugged him and said it is beautifully written, and I enjoyed it a lot. It was teamwork,” he said.
Amit continued: “No one in our actors team saw the original show. The material we were given, we had to make from it. When I did ‘Kai Po Che’ I didn’t read Chetan Bhagat’s book at that time. I wanted to read my script. But after the movie was shot, I did read the book and found it interesting. So for me I don’t want to watch something else and unnecessarily confuse myself.”
New mysteries brew and come to light as the characters of Gulshan Devaiah and Amit are engaged in an epic showdown to reclaim their identities in the new season. The second season of the show will see the return of Gulshan, Drashti Dhami, Amit Sadh, Barkha Sen Gupta, Rajesh Khattar reprising their respective roles.
Spanning across eight episodes, ‘Duranga S2’ will premiere from October 24 on ZEE5.