Actor Aditya Rawal, son of Bollywood star Paresh Rawal, has recently unveiled his role in the upcoming psychological crime-thriller series Daldal. He plays a drug addict suspected of being a serial killer. In an exclusive conversation with Zee News, he talked about working alongside Bhumi Pednekar and Samara Tijori, future collaboration projects with his father, life lessons, and his upcoming work and other projects.
Q1. Daldal is already being talked about for its intense and layered narrative – when the project first came to you, what about this story made you say yes?
“I think it was just, I mean first the people involved are those whom I really admire as human beings and as artists. So that was me was a major sort of draw, then when I heard the story through Amrit, when I heard about the character, I actually loved the story, I found it deeply engaging, moving. It really broke my heart and the character of Sajid, the first time I was like, as a director, as a showrunner, ‘Do you really think that I’ll be able to do this?’ because it really scares me and I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull this off, because when we did the audition, it was actually good because it was as much as audition for them as it was for me, like, I am proving to myself that I’m able to do it, you know, so those were the things that really drew me in and when I did the audition not only did I feel like ‘ha okay this is something that you know if I put in the right time and effort, then I’ll be able to get somewhere close to performing this character with some honesty, but also Amrit was there at the audition and alongside Amrit each take improved my performance and I was like ‘Boss! iske saath toh bhout maza aya tha iske saath oh krna hi chahiye'”
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Q2. Did playing this character affect you emotionally after the shoot ended?
“To be honest, I think while shooting, one tries to sort of hold on to that character to that sense of vulnerability, low self esteem, he’s kind of broken inside you know, so that you find really moving and you put in a lot of time and effort for the preparation but I personally, don’t have the trouble of getting out of the character once I am done with him. I am kind of grateful for that because, I know that, for some people, it sort of stays with them, a long time after. I am able to get out of that emotional state while I still hopefully retain the understanding and the learnings that I have sort of gained while playing the character, so yea that is not much of an issue for me.”
Q3. What was it like working with co-stars like Bhumi Pednekar and Samara Tijori on this intense project?
“Incredible! Incredible! I mean Bhumi Pednekar is just a fantastic actor that we all know, but the collaborator that she is on set, I mean we get to learn a lot of things, not just about acting but also how to conduct yourself as an actor as well and she was just very very kind to us, she was always happy to offer us guidance and advice and also give us our space to perform and do our things, it was a wonderful experience.”
“With Samara, we just connected from the first moment so it was an easy and generous working relationship that we shared where we were both trying to do our best to give the other person what they need to perform and to be able to play the character to the full extent.”
Q4. What advice from your parents, Paresh Rawal and Swaroop Sampat has stayed with you most, especially when navigating challenging projects like Daldal?
“It is just to put your head down and keep working, they both had very very long careers full of ups and downs but the idea to understand that everything is temporary, you know, a high is temporary and so is the low, and that’s a very good thing, what you must do is the only thing that is in your control is to put your head down, keep working, keep yourself as sharp as possible, your instrument as an actor, keep learning new things, be curious about things, keep yourself fresh and updated, and thats the only thing you can do or should do or need to do.”
Q5. Have you ever considered collaborating with your father, Paresh Rawal, for a project?
“Yeah, so I have actually written two films that my father has acted in, and there is another thing that hopefully we’ll be able to announce very soon, like we have worked on together but I can’t talk about that right now, but there is actually a lot of collaborations that have happened and hopefully will also happen in the future.”
Q7 You’ve also been a writer. Do you see a future where you balance acting with writing more deeply?
“I mean that is the present, that has been the past, and I see no reason why that should not be the future.”
Q8. After Daldal, what kind of role should we look forward to now?
“There are actually three to four things coming out this year, that will be very different from what I have done in Daldal and what I have done in the past and I am also very very eager to do an ‘out and out comedy,’ I have done that on stage and as a writer I have written stuff that has a lot of humour but as an actor what I want to do is an absolute ‘out and out comedy,’ so that’s what I am looking forward to.
