When it comes to web series, historicals seem to allure you. Before this, you had The Empire and Rocket Boys….NA: I am a history junkie. My favourite podcast is Empire (by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand). In fact, all money I make I have spent it on the books they recommend in the podcast (laughs). The funny bit was that in the first episode of the podcast, Dalrymple trashed the Freedom at Midnight book.This gets me thinking, was there a mandate for everyone to read the book before coming on set?NA: I think I asked but everyone refused (laughs)Sidhant Gupta: I actively avoided it. I didn’t want to be influenced.When it comes to playing real-life people, some actors are very particular about encapsulating the mannerisms of the person they are playing, while others take a more liberal approach. How did you guys go about it?SG: For me, it was important to align my thinking with that of my character (of Jawaharlal Nehru). Once that happened everything started to align itself, be it the nuances or the husk in the voice. The aim was to be as close to the character as possible. Whenever I was in the costume, I actually believed I was Jawaharlal Nehru.Arif Zakaria: From what I heard and what I researched about Jinnah, his manner of speaking was like a bark, because he gave commands. Even when he talks to his sister (Fatima, played by Ira Dubey) a seemingly normal conversation sounds like he is giving orders. I tried to incorporate that. He was also frail and ailing, so my performance needed a certain physicality. Also, he was a chain smoker. I bundled up these little things to develop the character.Chirag Vohra: My approach was to watch all YouTube videos of Gandhi and try to imbibe his body language. I observed that the way he punctuated certain words was very odd. While performing, I tried to incorporate that while ensuring that this quirk didn’t overpower the scene.
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