Anup Soni the Bollywood and TV actor has once again raised his bar and given an outstanding performance in the recently released Netflix film Class of ‘83. Produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, the film is directed by Atul Sabharwal.
Class of ’83 which is based on a book authored by leading crime journalist Hussain Zaidi deals with the underworld’s tight hold in Bombay in the 1980’s.
Anup plays the role of the politician Manohar Patkar in the film.
Says Anup, “Class of ’83 has been a wonderful experience. I am happy with the outcome. Though I have not been able to check the reviews, I have heard that it is doing really good. While shooting, we could figure out that the film was being shot on a large scale as the whole look of the then-Bombay was very authentic.”
Talking about his character, Anup states, “I will not say that my character is a bad guy. As per my personal view, this story depicts the era of the time when politics, underworld and police functioned. So understanding all of this, I believe my character was the one who understood how the system worked. You cannot really fight all the time. You have to shake hands with a lot of people to maintain peace. That’s the way it worked. My character was a person who accepted the situation rather than fighting it.”
“Shooting for Class of ’83 was so much fun. I did not have many scenes with the other cops. Most of my scenes were with Bobby. Atul Sabharwal was so patient and gave us ample time to do the scene the way we wanted to,” adds the actor.
Anup Soni confides that he has gotten a very good response for his look in the film. “I think people have not seen me in such a role. Lot of people are appreciating the look also. Let me tell you how this look materialized. I was in the continuity of keeping my beard for another project. But the shape of the beard was not suiting this particular character. So the make-up man and Atul decided to add up extra patches of beard to give it an older look. My beard was very modern, with a neat carving. So the beard was changed by adding few patches to my existing beard to meet the character of the 80’s (smiles).”
Ask him whether he has been satisfied with his huge body of work and Anup quips, “When you ask any actor this question, the answer will be of not being totally satisfied. I would say that overall if I analyse, I am happy that I could work in lot of mediums, different genres. In fact, if you take this role of mine in Class of ’83 and my next web-series that will come, I am happy that people did not typecast me. Web and films have given me more and more opportunities to play different characters. So my focus as of now is with films and web. In television, you tend to play a character for a longer period. However, in web and films, you finish one project and move to the other. As an actor, I feel very excited when I get varied roles.”
Anup Soni who was last seen in the ZEE5 series Bombers and the ZEE5 film Fatteshikast, has a few projects lined up. “I have a few films coming and a few web-series. There are a lot of exciting things coming up and this is what excites me as I told you.”
Talking on the factors that interest him when he picks a role, Anup avers, “When I choose my role, my prime concern is the character’s contribution to the story. Also the director and the team also matters.”
