Popular for his portrayal of the new-age Anurag Basu in Kasautii reboot, actor Parth Samthaan is all set to create waves with his new look and style in his newly launched show Main Hero Boll Raha Hoon, currently airing on AltBalaji and Zee5.
The actor interacted with media on Tuesday in a virtual press meet and as usual won hearts with his peppy persona and quick replies. Dressed in black, the suave and charming Parth Samthaan looked poised and geared to answer questions about his show. Just as the title suggests, the show set in the 90s portrays a young man’s journey into the big bad underworld and subsequently his entry into the quintessential silver screen (a la D Company).
On challenges of playing the protagonist Nawab
Soon after wrapping up the shoot for Kasautii Zindagi Kay, I had to start the shoot for Main Hero Boll Raha Hoon. I had to switch from a Bengali chocolate boy image to a 90s era boy who wants to rule ‘akkha’ Mumbai.
There had to be a complete change in my style, gait and overconfidence of a bindaas Mumbai ka chora. It took me at least 30-45 days into the shoot to transition completely from Anurag Basu to Nawab.
On bouncing back after Covid-19
The actor, who recently recovered from Covid, spoke about how he bounced back from the deadly infection in no time, started working out and continued with the rest of the shoot too.
Talking about his experiences during the crisis, he spoke about the “importance of spending time with his family and loved ones” and how the pandemic has been a big lesson for him as well as everyone around him.
His feelings at the moment
“I am nervous as hell and equally shy about seeing myself on the screen. I am quite nervous about how people will view me after watching this show. But I am excited as well. This is a character I loved playing because of my love for Bollywood and the 90s,” he said.
“It is the first time I am playing an anti-hero role and it was quite a challenge to play it. But thanks to my childhood love for masala movies, I could draw a lot of inspiration from them,” says Parth.
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On getting bitten by Bollywood bug in childhood
He went on to reminisce his long hours of watching Hindi movies during his childhood that also affected his eye sight. “I simply loved the fantasy, romance and action of the filmy 90s,” said the Bollywood lover.
Upon being asked which actors were his inspiration from the 90s, he said he loved Aamir’s character in Sarfarosh, SRK’s Raj Aryan in Mohabbatein, Rahul in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and Rahul in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. About his favourite movies, the movie buff said he “enjoyed the 90s era of movies and hence instantly fell in love with Main Hero…’s script and chose to act in it”.
“It helped me when I was getting into the skin of Nawab,” he said. And who among the contemporary actors has inspired him? “I love Hrithik Roshan a lot and he is also one of the main reasons I was inspired to become an actor.”
Parth’s favourite dialogue from Main Hero…
“I could identify with this line a lot: Ek din apunsamandar pe raajkarega. It is symbolic and sums up my journey into the small screen too.” And who was his inspiration from the sets of the show? “I loved working with Chandan sir (Chandan Roy Sanyal).”
The real Parth
A fun person on the sets, he describes himself as “extremely passionate about his craft and one who loves helping his co-actors during the shoot” and is as real off-screen as well as on-screen with all his crew members.
Hugely popular as Anurag, Parth won people’s hearts with his pairing opposite Erica Fernandes in the show Kasautii Zindagi Kay where they won the popular and best jodi award too at various award functions.
One year short of completing a decade in industry
The actor who has completed nine years in the industry this year, has done justice to all his roles ranging from Prithvi Sanyal in Channel V’s Best Friends Forever? to Manik Malhotra in MTV India’s Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan (Season 1 & 2) and as Anurag Basu in Kasautii…. His journey from the small screen to the web medium is worth noting. With Main Hero Boll Raha Hoon, he has taken a major leap by shedding his chocolate boy image and playing a character with grey shades for the first time. He signs off by saying he is “eagerly looking forward to audience reaction after watching the series”.