Neel Motwani, who has just entered &TV show Paramavatar Shri Krishna, says that for a long while, he. would shy away from the mytho space, not being comfortable with the costumes and vocabulary. “I did not have trouble with diction, being fluent in the lingua franca of the nation. It’s just that the heavy-duty Sanskrit shlokas were a bit challenging.”
“No wonder I turned down several offers in the same genre. However, child artist Kartikey Malviya ‘s Shani performance made me look at the mytho space with new respect.”
“Hence, I immediately agreed for Shri Krishna’s audition, which I cleared in one take.”
“My fiancé Vindhya really helped me understand the background and importance of Karan in the Mahabharat. She is very well versed in Indian culture, you see,” says Neel, who has also done shows like Yeh Hai Mohabbatein and Bahu Hamari Rajni Kant.
“Playing a warrior prince requires a certain kind of stiff body language, which was initially cumbersome, but then one should never baulk from challenges.”
So how is your tuning with Sudeep Sahir, who plays the title character? “We have not yet shot together. For the moment, we are establishing my character, who was born with his kavach and kundal.”
Neel seems to have great tuning with &TV. “After my debut lead, Waris, with them, this sister channel of Zee TV offered me another show which did not take off. Now comes Paramavatar Shri Krishna.”
Is the money less, given low &TV numbers? “I am being paid well. No cutting corners with talent and production values is their motto.”
Besides this show, Neel is also moving to films (we had written about it). “Our shoot has not yet begun, due to rains and logistic issues. Our well-known director-helmed project will go on the floors by the year end.”
Unlike other TV actors, he is not worried that doing more TV before his cine debut might overexpose him. “Times have changed. I personally feel that small screen artists need to be given more respect, given the fact that we don’t have prep time, unlike films. Here, we get our scripts on the morning of the shoot, which we have to then memorize and deliver.”
“Ideally, film producers should take advantage of the mass popularity of the tube crowd. It took Varun Dhawan a lot of time to get where he is. Comparatively, TV actors become household names within months.”