Anantvijay Joshi who has emerged as a versatile actor with the kind of exposure and roles that he has bagged to date in the TV and OTT circuits, is a happy man today, as his recent role of Golden in the recent Netflix series Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein doing wonders for him. In this Sidharth Sengupta production series, Anant plays the perfect man to the lead, essayed by Tahir Raj Bhasin.
We at IWMBuzz.com got into an exclusive conversation with Anant aka Golden to know more about the making of this character and the kind of response he has been getting for it.
Excerpts:
How did you bag this wonderful opportunity in Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein. Take us through it.
It all started from a call from Edgestorm Production house, saying that they have an interesting character for me which they would like to test me for. When I got to know that the show is written, produced and directed by Sidharth Sengupta for Netflix, I was more than excited to just dive into that experience. But at a first glance, I wasn’t sure I could be able to deliver the character since fundamentally in many ways, Golden is my complete opposite (laugh). But the production team esp Vilas and Varun showed immense faith in me as an actor and assured what a fun ride it would be and the rest is history.
Golden is an amazing character to play. Was it tough to get into the skin of the character?
All the characters in this show are so well written and defined that it makes an actor’s job easy to navigate, because of which I was able to focus on developing its mannerism, dialect, body language and to make sure that his inherent sensitivity comes across on screen.
How was it working with Sidharth Sengupta?
Oh! If only I can explain that in words 🙂 Due to the lack of words, I would say beyond amazing. Be it on sets or off the set, one can feel his support and motivation at all times when you work with him. Truly a great team captain, I felt so included and involved in the whole process of making, that calling YKKA my best experience so far in my career won’t be an exaggerated statement.
Did you need any preparations as such?
Of course, every character comes with its own sets of challenges. Golden was not any different. As I mentioned earlier since Golden and Anant Vijay are such different people, my major prep was to understand and accept his point of view or explore the mind space where he comes from. The manner in which he says deliciously naughty yet naive things translates into his humour. Rest was all about observing and adapting to the vernacular speech and dialect that he speaks in.
Golden has a great look. How was this put in place?
Good question! So this look has an epic anecdote related to itself.
So the makers named this character something else, and whilst doing the look test, I and my make up team (Melanie and Neha) decided to go for coloured hair, and on that day they had Golden hair highlighter. So we went ahead with that just to see how it will look, and when Sidharth Sengupta saw it, he burst out in laughter and named this character Golden (laughs).
Friend ho toh Golden jaisa. How did you feel when shooting the major scene with Tahir?
All my scenes are so very well written and funny that it was always great fun to play them, and when you have a dedicated co-actor like Tahir, the fun is doubled and I would say – Tahir’s perfect interpretation of Vikrant (his character) helped my Golden shine even more.
You have had a good career so far from TV to the web. What are the goals for the future?
I guess with regards to my acting career, my goal has always been to play my character with all honesty and sincerity, and in future too, I would like to be consistent in delivering and exploring more characters and gathering experiences.
Can you tell us about your future projects?
You’ll just have to wait, you would be the first to know when I can officially talk about that. Currently, all I can say is that I am basking in all the love that I am receiving for Golden in YKKA.