Actor Rajesh Tailang, who plays the role of an overbearing, cricket obsessed father, Mohan, in Netflix's new orginal series "Selection Day, believes it is essential for an actor to fully own his character in order to present its appropriate and justifiable version on screen.
The six-episode series is based on Aravind Adiga's novel of the same name and follows two teenagers -- Radha and Manju -- who are raised by their father, Mohan, to focus on only one thing: cricket.
The actor who won critical-acclaim for his recent roles in "Omerta" and "Mukkabaaz", says the show is also a comment on the parenting process.
Breaking down the process of how he approached the character as intense and as unbearable as Mohan, Tailang says one needs to understand his thoughts and desires.
"As an actor it is our job to understand the character and its desires. We also need to find the reasons why the character has certain desires in order to explore its background as well as predict its future. You have to make the character your own and for that you need to get into the thought process of the character," the actor told PTI.
He says once an actor recognises the depth of the character, then the portrayal becomes easy.
"I feel that if we are able to understand the exact nature of the character, then you also get the grasp of its emotions. Thoughts generate emotions and then you don't just emote. It is senseless to emote if your thoughts are not working.
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"As an actor, you need to be aware the commonalities and differences between you and your character. If you get this aspect, then you start working on other aspects," Tailang says.
The actor contends that Mohan may be hated by the audiences but he is not a villain and there is a reason for his actions.
"No character is a villain for itself. Everything is justified for the character. So as Mohan, he is totally justified. Even a criminal feels that he is justified in whatever he has done. He must be having some reasons.
Actor Yash Dholye, who plays Radha, the elder son of Mohan, believes cricket serves as the common background to all the character stories.
"This is show is about emotions, relations, aspirations and how cricket has an effect on all of this. Every character of the show has a start point and a completely different end point that you won't even expect to happen. That is the most beautiful part of the script and the story. Cricket is just the backdrop of the story which portrays many things," the young actor said.
"Selection Day", also featuring Mohammad Samad, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ratna Pathak Shah, Shiv Pandit and Karanvir Malhotra, will stream on Netflix from December 28.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content