‘Mumbai Diaries 26/11’ actor Harssh A Singh wonders, ‘I just kept thinking how much hatred can a human being carry and how does this violence serve any purpose at all’!

Noted actor #HarsshASingh was recently part of the popular series #MumbaiDiaries26/11. He played the pivotal character of #DrFarookhRomani and got some great feedback. Speaking about his role Singh says, ”Dr. Farookh Romani is a surgeon, a perfect and copybook surgeon. According to him, people like the characters played by #KonkonaSenSharma and #MohitRaina are running havoc in Bombay General Hospital, while he plays by the book.”

Speaking about the prep work for the role he adds,” Like most of my characters, I actually wrote a 3-page biography on him, his life, childhood, How and why he became a doctor. That helped me get into the character. The medical procedures were part of extensive workshops that were held during the table reads and at the set, days before the shoot. All of us from the cast Satyajeet Dubey, to Natasha to Mrunmayee had learned basic surgical procedures (without killing anyone) before the shoot. I already knew CPR. It was incredibly detailed and hard, but so much fun.”

26/11 was a horrifying day for all the Mumbaikars so where were you on that black day? “I was the Programming head of a Radio Station Radio City 91.1 during that time. I was in shock. The truth is that we were not clear about what was going on till early morning. So I rushed to the Radio station at 4 in the morning, and all we did was keep people calm. We had planned dinner at Leopold’s that night, but for some reason we cancelled. So it just made the whole thing so much more terrifying. We just seemed helpless and defenseless, I just kept thinking how much hatred can a human being carry and how does this violence serve any purpose at all.”

The show has got a very good cast and each character has been presented in a very good way. Harssh feels credit goes to the writers and the directors. He says, ”I truly have to appreciate the writers and the directors Nikhil Advani and Nik Gonzalves for this. They have worked so hard on making sure that each and every character has depth, detailing and consistency. I think this is why Mumbai Dairies is by far the most superior web series that India has ever produced. From The main cast to the patients to the hospital staff, to the news crew, everyone was cast perfectly. I also loved the fact that weeks before the shoot, the entire cast got together at a hotel for 2 days and we poured over the script in painful detail. With Nikhil and NIk present, so everyone had time to live their part. It was such a luxury to be able to live with the script like this and interact with all the actors before you got on to the sets.”

The feedback of his role is something which Harrsh is enjoying a lot. “My wife loves it, but I have my friends who hate my character, they call Dr. Romani, a misogynist and chauvinist, while female friends called and said that if I ever try “mansplaining” anything to her like I did to Konkona Sen Sharma, this friend would slap me in the face. Her exact words. But thats fantastic, which means that the character worked.”

This year Singh also appeared in State Of Siege: Temple Attack in which he has played a pivotal role. For obvious reason he is satisfied with his stint on OTT platforms. He adds,”Finally I am getting the kind of roles that I want to do. I remember there were some serious date issues with the State Of Siege: Temple Attack, so I told them to re-cast the role, But Ken Ghosh the director of the film insisted that it had to be me. That Felt so good. But you should know this, that an actor is never satisfied, he is happy briefly, but never satisfied. You want more challenges, fame, money, everything. It’s sad but true. Honestly, I don’t distinguish between the mediums. I will do character-oriented stuff anywhere. TV, OTT, Films, anything. Like recently I did a short film called Green Room:Thehrav and it WON the audience award at the Cannes Film Festival. I am beyond thrilled. 150 films and our film won, and its a short film. So as long as its fun, its fresh and it makes you think, or create something different, I’m ok with whatever medium, I get.”