‘SRK’s Mohan Bhargav from Swades is a dream role for me’, reveals actor Pranay Pachauri!

#PranayPachauri who is part of an #AmazonPrimeVideos original web series #GuiltyMinds is basking in the success of the said serial. Having worked with a seasoned artistes he feels enriched and wants to keep improving. Congratulatary messages are still piuring in as Guilty Minds is getting some amazing response. He bares his heart out here.

How do you feel as Guilty Minds is being hugely appreciated? Has it sunk in yet?

As an actor you feel very overwhelmed at the idea of a project doing really well and it gets you extremely excited because you work so hard to prove your talent but when that moment happens it just doesn’t sink in entirely. Working with the entire team of Guilty Minds from our directors Shefali Bhushan and Jayant Somalkar to the entire team behind the camera to my wonderful Co actors, everybody was so sincere and the energy on set was so positive and calm that it definitely brought the best out of me and in that moment I knew that this project is going to be extremely special for me both personally and professionally. I am enjoying the reviews, the appreciation, because after having faced rejections multiple times, questioning and doubting yourself and your craft … the timing of this show is perfect, as it has really uplifted my morale and has given me a new energy to take on things head on .. so I’m grateful and full of gratitude

How was it playing a lawyer in Guilty Minds as you yourself belong to a family of lawyers? Were you already aware of some legal terms?
My paternal grandparents (grandfathers), my own father, uncles and cousins have all studied law and some have/are practising so right from my childhood I picked up on the quality of how to win arguments, mannerisms, the way they conduct themselves. I infact sat for CLAT( entrance exams for law colleges) and cleared a lot of good law colleges in India so yes I was aware of a lot of legal terms for example “a guilty mind “ in legal terms is called ‘Men’s Rea’.Now at that time my prep for law colleges was good but little did I know that all of that knowledge would definitely come in handy while playing Shubhrat, like they say no knowledge goes to waste so It was quite an interesting journey but also close to home for me to mould myself into a lawyer.

What kind of prep work did you do to get into Shubhrat Khanna’s character?
As a process I thought of working inside out where I had to first understand and tap into the mind of Shubhrat Khanna and lay out all his reasons for why he is the way he is – his failures , his achievements , his background to his vision and that sort of really helped me in empathising with him and understanding him better. I had to take a lot of inferences from my own highs and lows and find similarities I have with Shubhrat. For this character’s exterior I had to understand and chalk out what his life, routine, eating habits would be like – a lawyer spends a lot of time on his chair working, arguing and deducing facts, he would workout a bit but not so regularly so I put on a bit of weight to look like people who try and maintain a healthy lifestyle but are not so regular at it because of their work life schedule.

Any memorable incident on the set you would like to share with us?
My favourite scene which also made me nervous as it was emotionally intense was with my sister Shubhangi in the lift, where Shubhrat is extremely vulnerable and defeated so personally for the character it was a very low moment as he indirectly expresses how he feels betrayed by his own sister. Also interestingly, we shot that scene on my birthday so I just couldn’t be myself that day. On one hand I was receiving calls and msgs for my birthday and on the other I just wanted to be alone and stay in the zone that Shubhrat would have been in. But as the scene progressed and Shefali Ma’am called cut everybody on the set went quiet and that silence was the validation that the scene worked and I walked out with a nervous grin but to be honest that was a gift to myself on my birthday and also an extremely memorable moment for me.

What kind of roles would you prefer ? Any dream role in your mind?

I love stories of hope, I love underdog characters, I love watching films to be inspired and those are the kind of roles I want to do, my personal favourite character is Mohan Bhargav from Swades played by Shah Rukh Khan and that is a dream role for me, would love to reprise it, some day. .

Any dream director you’d want to work with?
All the directors like Shefali Bhushan Ma’am, Jayant Somalkar sir, Vijay Maurya , Sonam Nair , Vishnu Vardhan I have worked with till date have all been so good that I’ve learnt so much out of them and that has helped me bring out a different version of me every time. However I would love to work with Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar , Farhan Akhtar, Ashutosh Gowarikar , Richie Mehta , Shakun Batra and the list goes on and on and on .. the idea is to create world class cinema / stories / characters and to keep learning from such skilled and talented directors

Any upcoming projects you’d like to talk about?
I have a very interesting project coming out with Amazon Prime again, a series being directed by extremely talented Mr. Vijay Maurya where I play a character who’s completely opposite to Shubhrat Khanna and that excites me as I would love to see the audience’s reaction to it. There is this other project with Hotstar directed by Ravi Adhikari where I am playing a grey character who is fueled by revenge. So yes many interesting shades to a human and that’s what excites me the most about my work and I hope people love and accept everything I bring to the table.