Divya
Actor Abhishekh Khan has that fresh vibe and his acting speaks for himself. Taking his first step into the industry with ‘Bard of Blood’, Abhishek is also seen in ‘Project 9191’.
In conversation with Instant Bollywood, Khan has given us a lot of exciting scoop and details of his journey.
We start from the very beginning as we asked Abhishekh to take us through his initial journey. “I started my theatre career when I was 15. I went to Prithvi theatre and I started working with Atul Kumar and at that time I was just a backstage person doing chores. I was very sure I wanted to be an actor. At that time I wanted to be a star but with time I’ve understood that I don’t want to be a star but to be an actor first.”
Talking about his latest venture Abhishekh says, “Project 9191 is a unit created by Amitabh Sinha who is the DCP of Bombay and he wants to stop crimes before they happen. After watching the trailer, a lot of people thought it’s a remake of Minority Report or Person Of Interest, but it’s not. Minority Report is future based and Person Of Interest is all about a software. Here, what we do is civic surveillance. What if someone is planning a bomb blast in front of you? You can just call 9191 and tell us so we then go after that person.“
“My character is a tech analyst so he knows how to intercept, hack GPS or get numbers out and crack social media or Aadhar accounts. His name is Johnny and he’s just 24-25. He has a past too in the series. What I like about the character is that he goes wrong also at times and isn’t always correct. It’s a real character,” he continues.
“It’s pretty exciting to play such a tech-savvy person because I’m not tech-savvy at all. I can’t use social media and a lot of people thrash me about it. I used to be on it before but I feel as actors, we’re saturating the good fact. If anyone wants to know about me, they can go on social media and decide what kind of a person I am but then there’s nothing exciting for people to look forward to about me and watch on screen,” Abhishek suggests, revealing he doesn’t find social media useful.
Abhishekh then went on to tell us the craziest thing he ever did for a role! “I lost 9 kgs for Bard of Blood and I was trying to tan myself naturally so I stood on the beach every day in the hard sun around 1 in the afternoon though it kind of damaged my skin. I don’t think I’ll get more chances to show what I can do which is why I went all out with my first work.”
“When I had gone to audition, I didn’t realise it was for Bard of Blood. I used to stand outside Shah Rukh Khan’s house and shout his name and he never looked at me because there were billions out there. But after two years I was standing next to him and he giving me my launch, I definitely think it’s my dream debut. I used to live in Versova in a small house and now (thanks to my mother too) we live in a much bigger home. So for someone like me, I never thought I’d be seen on a Netflix series.”
“One of the things I like about Bard of Blood is that Nusrat (my character) is really sweet and emotional. I had to follow a strict diet because Nusrat is a rugged-looking Balochi leader-type guy in the desert so I tried to keep it as real as possible. I also became a vegetarian so now I’m still a vegetarian. I used to eat chicken a lot but now it’s been over two years since I turned,” Khan jests, mentioning how he’s now a vegetarian.
Talking about films, the actor says he wants to focus only on originals. “I just want to do original stuff and I’m fine if I fail at it but I don’t want to do remakes or copy someone or impersonate. Me as an actor, I still audition. So whenever I feel there is a part original enough, I do give my best for it. But whenever I see the word remake, I try to keep myself away from it which is going against m favour because a lot of remakes are happening in the industry which breaks my heart but I’m going to try my best.”
We then asked him who his inspirations are to which Khan replied, “There are two people actually. First, Mr Kamal Haasan who I really adore. I really like what he has done with cinema in our industry. Then I really love Daniel Day-Lewis. He did only 17 films throughout his career and I wish to do the same. I’ve written in my journal that I just wish to do 25 films in my life but original work.”
Abhishekh also makes music and while chatting, the actor revealed how music is an important part of his life. “I also make music because it’s the only way we can be ourselves right now. My tracks on Spotify are instrumentals, they don’t have a larger audience but they can just calm you down and make you feel good about your atmosphere. I started making them when I was going through a difficult phase and music really helped.“
“I don’t call myself an actor yet looking at other people from the industry and how much they’ve accomplished in life. I am an artist. I feel what is wrong with us is that we have become impatient. Patience helps you out in a lot of ways. It calms you down and makes you discover a lot of things,” he concludes.
