Hemal Dev says that playing the role of Kalyani, one of the leading parts in Subrat Sinha and Dr. Bodhisattva’s Vidrohi, has been an emotionally taxing job. This is her first TV show. Before this, the actor has done films and web shows.
“Doing a TV show is the most demanding of it all. It demands that as actors we give our 200% to the job at hand. We also don’t have the luxury of time or preparation. But I love how TV keeps you on your toes,” she says.
The dialogues of Vidrohi are in ‘Shuddh Hindi’ and there are certain words that we don’t use in our daily lives these days. Hemal Dev agrees that it is therefore definitely challenging to mouth these dialogues in pure Hindi.
“The language is not colloquial. We don’t speak like that anymore so the challenge is often to make the lines mine when I say it. It shouldn’t sound like I’m just saying something. Historical shows like this definitely take you to a different world and yes they do provide a lot of knowledge about the topic which is a beautiful thing. It lets you dive into a world that used to exist so it is really fun to be a part of something that is completely created from scratch. Bakshi Jagbandhu’s story needed to be told and it feels amazing to be a part of a journey that acquaints us with an unsung hero,” she adds.
There are not many historical shows on TV presently. So, Virdohi has an advantage. “I really want to thank my makers, producers Subrat Sinha and Dr Bodhisattva for taking up this challenge because it is not an easy show. Not just because of history, there is very limited information available on Bakshi Jagbandhu’s life. So the researchers, all the historians who are involved have been working really hard to find legit information and also make sure that culturally too we are correct,” she says.
Vidrohi has a love triangle. Ask if she feels such tracks, no matter what the era is, attract more viewership and Hemal replies, “In terms of Vidrohi, the love triangle is not something that we have added just to attract more viewership. In fact it is a real story. Bakshi Jagbandhu did have two wives. So we are just trying to show the true story.”
