EXCLUSIVE interview of Tara Sutaria, Rajpal Yadav, Abhishek Banerjee on their film 'Apurva' | Disney Plus Hotstar

The trio of Rajpal Yadav, Tara Sutaria, and Abhishek Banerjee is coming together for writer and director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s Apurva, which will stream on Disney Plus Hotstar from November 15. It’s a survival thriller with an innocent woman trapped at a dead-end with only courage as her tool to stay alive.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the three principal actors of the film spoke about the world they have inhabited for the film, and reflected upon their respective characters

Edited excerpts from the interview

Rajpal, you have just completed 24 years in the industry. In Shool, Manoj Bajpayee and Raveena Tandon were highly impressed with your performance, share your thoughts on shooting that scene at the railway station with them.

That scene could come alive only because of them, I had their support and blessings that they liked me in that scene which was shot after our rehearsals.

Tara, after Tadap, this is another dark world and character you’ve explored, but you were victimising people there. How does it feel to be a victim in Apurva after being a villain in Tadap?

I tried to be a villain in Ek Villain also, my last film. This is very different and poles apart, Apurva is a very ordinary girl. She’s a girl-next-door who’s on her way to meet her fiancée. It’s the story about what can suddenly happen in her life at the drop of a hat and her whole world is shaken. That’s what excited me on a basic level that I could play someone very normal and simple, just like anyone. This is also about how she tries to overcome the scariest moment and how she uses her wit and intelligence. There’s a certain sense of heightened sensitivity that comes into play with women, and which Apurva has shown in the film, and I hope people feel inspired and courage when they see the film and realise there’s an Apurva in all of us.

Abhishek, your character Hathoda Tyagi wasn’t the villain of Paatal Lok since he was humanised towards the end. How do you see your character Sukha in Apurva?

This is completely dark and black, no shades of white or even grey. To understand Sukha, I’ll need to understand criminal psychology and I really don’t understand criminal psychology. The biggest challenge for me was to play this dark character casually, and sometimes he’s weirdly funny so you might end up laughing at his jokes. I’ll be able to understand what I have done once the audiences respond to my character. After the trailer, people told me I was looking dashing and it was something I didn’t expect. But this is also a character you can’t like, so I’ve tried to create this ambiguity and play with the audience’s minds.

Rajpal, what do you have to say about the character that you have played?

The basic of this character is very simple. He’s in the wrong profession but is restrained. I found this character a little difficult as compared to my previous negative roles, and I liked the challenge. He’s someone who cannot escape a particular situation and is neither able to live it. I really liked living the catharsis between our characters. I got the opportunity to essay a mature character with simplicity.

Tara, what’s the one thing about survival thrillers that excite you or jolt you? NH10 and A Quiet Place are two examples.

I love this genre. I love scary and horror films. These films are gripping and really excite me. I’m a Scorpio and I feel all the Scorpions like these intense stories that are twisted and messed up. Even though it was very difficult to shoot most of these scenes, it was all the way more exciting.

Rajpal, the three directors you have worked with the most are Ram Gopal Varma, David Dhawan, and Priyadarshan. How have they helped you in shaping your career and craft?

They are the trimurti of my creativity, and my career is because of them. I’ve done over 50 films with all of them and they have experimented a lot with me. I remember asking them once how they thought of my name for some particular roles, and they said a director needs five qualities in an actor and I possess each of them. I come on time, leave on time, there’s no trace of laziness. I respect my father a lot but I don’t want any sympathy from his either when it comes to acting.

Also, share your prep as an actor when it comes to transitioning from comedy to drama.

All these choices belong to the directors and their interpretations. I’ve always tried to be very honest about the scenes that I was given in my films, and the whole team of Ram Gopal Varma, David Dhawan, and Priyadarshan is expert in this, and so is the team of Apurva. Our director Nikhil was listening to every actor but was making the film that existed in his head. The best way for all of us was to follow the director’s interpretations. My wife complimented me by saying the promo looked different but everything was synchronised. This film seems to have given me a lot of respect at home, that too after 20 years. (Laughs)

Tara, are you able to detach yourself as an actor from the characters you play or you carry something back home?

Some of those characters were light and fun whereas some were heavy and intense. I am able to detach when I know it’s must and I also enjoy holding on some parts of it. I really enjoyed my character in Tadap, especially when the transition happens. There’s this one scene that I have with the great Saurabh Shukla, and I just wanted to do the film majorly for that scene because of the nastiness with which my character Ramisa spoke. I got to explore a rathe awful side to me which we all kind of possess and shy away from showing. This was something I didn’t want to leave. We all have also done a lot in Apurva collectively as a unit and it has been exciting for all of us. It may have been grueling but I hope I get to do more stuff like this.

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