While I was watching Maharani 2, I couldn’t help but admire the performance of Sohum Shah. The actor did justice to the character of Bheema in the drama series. In an exclusive interview with Team MissMalini, Sohum speaks about completing 10 years in Bollywood, Irrfan Khan being his inspiration and working with Huma Qureshi.
But before that, check out the trailer of the series here:
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
On playing the character of Bheema…
When I heard about the character of Bheema, I was thoroughly impressed and excited as he has a complex personality. In the first season, he was only talking but technically then he was only laying on the bed. But in this season, he is doing many things like driving, he has a personal life, he has an identity. He has different shades to his character. As an actor it is a treat for me. I got an opportunity to explore something new, and I had a lot of fun.
On his inspiration as an actor…
I am grateful that I got the privilege to work with Irrfan Khan. He was a gem of a human being. When I had met him for the first time, he had seen my work in Ship of Theseus and I saw his performance in Lunch Box. I was so fascinated by his work that I used to ask him that how how does he do it? He used to say I am still exploring. Irrfan started working in the 1990’s and at that time there were different kind of acting. He used to follow an organic approach while delivering a performance. It is an experience to watch him on screen.
I also liked Om Puri’s work, whatever he did turned out to be magic. I liked his performance in Hera Pheri and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. I feel privileged to work with him.
On going through rigorous physical transformation for Bheema in Maharani 2…
Every film I do, it requires a physical transformation. If you see the Ship of Theseus, Tumbbad and Maharani, I look different in these projects. I was talking to Huma as we both had to put on weight for the series. She used to say look how we are looking. I think it helps a lot. Weight gaining is easy but when you are trying to lose it, it gets tough. You have to focus a lot on your diet and gym. As an actor, when you transform physically, it helps in getting into the skin of the character.
On working with Huma Qureshi…
It was a wonderful experience for me. But you know, I hail from Sri Ganganagar, and maybe that is why I am socially awkward. When we were shooting the first schedule, I rarely spoke to her. But then I opened up due to her jovialness and we bonded well. Apart from being a fabulous actress, she is calm, cool, and friendly in nature. I like her ability to switch on and off from the character. A quality I have seen in few actors. She cracks a joke and as soon as the camera starts rolling she gets into the character.
On playing the most challenging role…
Vinayak from Tumbbad and Bheema in Maharani have been the most challenging roles so far. Vinayak had a complexity in him and that film also took four years to complete. It was stalled in the middle and I got into something else and I changed my body structure for the new role. Also, I learnt immensely from these projects.
On summing-up his decade of working in Hindi films…
It is a miracle, when I came into the industry I had a madness inside me, if it was missing then I couldn’t have thought of being an actor in a city like Bombay. I feel proud that I made Ship of Theseus, Tumbbad, I worked with artists like Kangana Ranaut, Irrfan Khan sahab. The most special moment for me was working with Irrfan Khan in these ten years.
Sohum would be seen next in Reema Kagti’s project Dahaad, along with Sonakshi Sinha.