2024-03-02 02:22:04
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone starrer film ‘Fighter’ was released on January 25. Rishabh Sahni played the role of villain in this movie. He had a special conversation with Navbharat Times and talked about his early days. Told how he came into this industry.
highlights
- ‘Fighter’ villain Rishabh Sahni told that he did theater after coming to Mumbai.
- No one in Rishabh Sahni’s family was in this field, he had received a call from Mukesh Chhabra.
- Rishabh Sahni told in the interview that he even fainted during a scene in the film.
Rishabh Sahni from Delhi reached the city of dreams Mumbai six years ago without any film background. This is the reason that after giving many auditions, he got the web series ‘The Empire’. Before this, she maintained her financial condition by doing theater and modeling. There is a saying that it may come late but it may come better. Same thing happened with Karishma Rishabh also. Two years ago casting director Mukesh Chhabra called him and from there his life changed. Actually, it was this phone call for Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone starrer film Fighter, in which he got the opportunity to play the role of terrorist Azhar Akhtar. During this time, he shot most of the scenes of the film wearing Shahrukh Khan’s shoes. Here is a special interview with him.
Came to Mumbai without any acting background
It has been six years since I came to Mumbai. When I came, I had no acting background. Neither did acting nor learned it. There was no plan to come to Mumbai. Initially I did theater there. During this time I realized that I have to do acting all my life. My interest increased so much that I started learning new things. The good thing that happened was that along with theatre, I started getting modeling work. Due to this the economic situation became stable. My goal was acting so I gave more than 300 auditions. While doing this, I found the web series The Empire. After that, I got a job in casting. I started assisting casting director Kavish Sinha and kept giving auditions on the side. Was selected in many auditions but later things did not materialise. In April 2022, a call came from casting director Mukesh Chhabra sir. I sent the audition. The call came again in June and tests were done. After that I met Siddharth Anand ji in July. He asked me to gain weight in 10-12 days. I gained 5 kg in a few days and as soon as I met him, he finalized me for the role of ‘Azhar’.
Don’t feel scared while taking action
While doing action for the first time, I did not feel scared at all. I was very excited. I have seen a lot of bullets and guns being fired in films, but when I got to do it in real life, there was no limit to my happiness. When I was shooting action scenes, I had no training. Seeing my body language, action master Parvez sir asked me after the shot, ‘Have you learned action Rishabh because it seems like you are trained. Your body language is absolutely natural for this. My favorite scenes in the film were the ones where I am firing machine guns and bazookas.
Couldn’t believe that Shahrukh sir praised me
I consider myself lucky that Shahrukh Khan sir praised me. I am a big fan of his. When I read that he praised my work, I couldn’t believe it at first. I wish to work with him once. Anyway, Shahrukh Khan is an inspiration for the actors coming from outside. There is also an incident regarding him. While I was trying on the costume, I came across a few shoe options. One of these shoes was the one which Shahrukh Khan wore in the film Pathan. I had immediately told the costume people to keep all the other shoes aside. I will shoot only wearing Shahrukh sir’s shoes. I have mostly shot in the film wearing his shoes.
Fainted during the burning building scene
As Azhar Akhtar’s character, I had to look like a tough villain. There is a lot of action in this so injuries also happened. There was complete safety on the set. No matter how careful you are while doing an action scene, some scratches are bound to happen. There is a scene in the film in which I come out of a burning building. That scene was being shot in the heat of May. That day, I suffered dehydration and heat stroke while repeatedly going in and out of the burning building. Because of this I fainted on the set. However, there was nothing much. I was back on the mend within two-three hours. Apart from this, a scene was being shot where explosives (bombs) were kept. They were small explosives, which exploded right under my mouth. My chin was hurt by that.
wanted people to hate my character
When I was auditioning for ‘Fighter’, the team had given me a brief for my character. He had said that your character should look dangerous. When the film was released, many people messaged me saying that you were looking very dangerous. We felt like coming and killing you. If you play the role of a villain and people start hating you, then understand that you have won. I associate my character with Joffrey Baratheon from ‘Game of Thrones’. When I saw that show, I felt that he is such a dirty man, he should not be saved. On the day that character died in the episode, I remember how happy I was. I wanted the same hatred from people towards my character also.
Hrithik sir did not let me realize that I am new
I had a conversation with Anil Kapoor sir. He told me many things. He took out his time and told me about the Bollywood industry, how to get work, what are the things which will benefit me in future. He is a very humble person. At the same time, most of my shooting was with Hrithik sir. The amount of praise he deserves is less. Despite being such a big star, he never once made me feel that I was a new actor. He made me feel so comfortable on the set that I was able to give my performance freely. Siddharth sir also has a big role in this.
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If not acting, I would have done body building.
I never thought of coming into limelight. In 2017, there were some personal problems going on, due to which I had to leave Delhi. Before that, my actor friend always used to say, ‘Come to Mumbai, you will get work.’ On his advice I came to Mumbai. At the same time, I have been doing body building for a long time. That’s a different hobby. If I was not acting, I would have been in body building. I miss my home and parents in Delhi. It hurts to be away from them. I also miss the food of Delhi and my school-college friends. Rest of Mumbai has its own fun. As people say that when Mumbai accepts someone, it opens both its hands. Touchwood, ever since I came to Mumbai, I have had no shortage of work. Kept modeling continuously. Meanwhile, got a web series and got a job in casting. Got a big film. Mumbai was very lucky for me. This city has given a lot of love along with support.
I want to try my hand in comedy too
If I get to do powerful negative characters in future too, I will definitely do it. I like such roles. This was a completely different kind of journey. However, I would like to do other things too. If I get a chance, I would like to try my hand in comedy because I think I can do well in it. Apart from this, there is also horror, rom-com. If you look at the character of ‘Azhar Akhtar’ and then my Instagram, you will know how much difference there is between the two. That was a character I adopted. I am an actor and would like to do multi-genre characters in the future.
Doing theater increased my confidence
I started with Rangbaaz theater group in Mumbai. I used to do a play named Junglebook, which was performed in front of 1500 spectators from Prithvi Theater in Gujarat. My confidence increased by doing theatre. I opened as an actor. There is no retake there. There is so much rehearsal that you develop the habit of working hard. Theater has a big role in influencing me. Apart from this, I have also done many acting workshops. I believe that acting workshop should be done in four-five months. Whatever happens or not, your acting will remain refreshed with this. I believe that if you are in the field of acting, you should stay in the same environment all the time. For this reason, when I was doing casting, I used to sit in auditions. I got to learn a lot from him too. The more you engage in acting, the better you will become.
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