Arjun Singh Shekhawat, who plays an important role in new Star Bharat show, Chandrashekhar, talks about the show, his personal desh bhakti and career.
The casting of Arjun Singh Shekhawat, in new Star Bharat show, Chandrashekhar, as the great freedom fighter’s tutor,turns the normal TV casting matrix on its head. “Normally, it is said that acting does not matter on the tube, only looks matter. However,my selection for this very average-looking charactershows that talent still clicks,” says Arjun, who is also doing &TV show, Half Marriage.Prior to that, he had played the lead’s brother, in Life OK’s fantasy, Nagarjuna. “I have also acted on many other TVCs.”
So how is your new show going?“It has just started, so need to wait and watch.We are already scoring well on the making and performance part, though.”
“Real-life character, Manohar plays an important role in building Chandrashekhar Azad’s initial value system. Interestingly, being a Gandhian, Manohar believes in peace and non-violence. But his favorite protégé goes on to become a big revolutionary, alongside Bhagat Singh, Sukhdevand Rajguru, andis eventually killed by the police in 1931. Arjun has no clue whether they will show the clash of ideologies between Manohar and the grown up Chandrashekhar. “As of now, my track will not go beyond the young Chandrashekhar. To be honest, most revolutionaries at first did follow non-violence, but later came to believe that it was not enough to drive the Brits out.”
Do you think today’s youth don’t care a fig about patriotism? “Well, it differs from person to person. Being very nationalistic,I have similar caller tunes, which some friends call boring. I can either boil my blood, trying to reform them, or let go. I preferto do the latter. In a way, our show will also help create some awareness about that time when truth and honesty ruled. Gen-next will also learn to value the freedom they currently enjoy. It did not come cheap;countless lives were lost in the process.”
Coming to Half Marriage, Arjun says, “Lead character Arjun’s (Tarun Mahilani) friend Manu is not your normal buddy role–he has much to do. This typical, pan-eating Kanpuri dude thinks himself to be smart, but can’t get to first base with women.Even the colony fatso clipshim when he approachesher after burning his fingers with all the good-looking girls. But yes, Manu is not a bad guy. The main reason for saying yes to this character was that I wanted to experiment with the Kanpuri look and dialect.”
“As an actor,I always look for roles which are poles apart from the real me. Ditto with both Chandrashekhar and Half Marriage,” says this engineer-turned-actor from Rajasthan.
In closing, while Arjun would prefer to look for lead roles in the future, “I will not sit at home till it happens. If a character role, that can up my current graph,comes around, I will grab it with both hands.”