After mesmerising the audience with Bharat Ka Veer Putra – Maharana Pratap, Sharad Malhotra is back at portraying yet another historical character. He plays the role of Bakshi Jagabandhu in Vidrohi that went on air earlier this month. Much like his fans, the actor too is excited about this new journey.
“Maharana Pratap was my first historic show that helped me learn, made me read up and recall pages from our glorious history. It made me study things all over again. Before that people knew me as a romantic hero. But, Maharana changed that perception of the viewers and the people in the industry, who then started seeing me as a macho hero as well. The entire look, with the moustache and all gave a different feel to my personality. I had obviously worked on my body, bulked up, learnt horse riding, sword fighting, action everything. From Maharana to Jagabandhu now, it has been an amazing journey because all these years made me realise my potential as an actor, my flaws and positives too,” he says.
The actor adds that whatever he had learnt in Maharana, be it sword fighting, voice modulation or body language, everything has been put to use while working in Virodhi. “It is helping me a lot. As they say, no learning goes to waste,” he smiles.
Elaborating on what made him agree to be a part of Vidrohi, Sharad Malhotra says, “The major reason is the character. Whenever I get an offer the first thing I see is how different the role is from my last as I always want to do something new every time. Also, because my viewers know that I will give them something new every time, the reason why they have given me the tag of the most versatile actor on Indian television… Doing different characters everytime helps me explore myself as an actor better. I like to push boundaries and challenge myself. So obviously when I heard about Vidrohi and Bakshi Jagabandhu, and the first people’s revolt that happened in the country, I instantly liked the story and said yes to the show.”
Sharad reveals that many don’t know about what happened in 1817. “When the first people’s revolt happened in India, the person commander-in-chief was Bakshi Jagabandhu. So this is the part of history that many people don’t know. Honestly, when I heard the story, I had goosebumps. I’m happy to play a character that probably no one has done ever before. We know the likes of Bhagat Singh, Mangal Pandey, but know very little about Bakshi Jagadbandhu, who was a legendary warrior from the state of Odisha that is rich in art, culture and history. It is like a matter of honour for me to depict such a character that has never been seen ever on Indian television before,” he concludes.
