He is the talk of the town, with his latest role in Class, a remake of the Spanish show Elite. Gurfateh Singh Pirzada is out there stealing hearts with his acting and his smoldering looks. Nawaz Kochra from Team MissMalini spoke to this Class actor, and here’s everything that went down in this exclusive interview.
Before you read on, check out the trailer of Class below…
We asked him about his personal journey playing Neeraj, here’s what he had to say
My journey with Neeraj was great actually. I remember auditioning for the character of Veer, and id auditioned for Neeraj. Obviously, I was more inclined toward Neeraj, because Veer is very similar to the character I played in my last movie. So I remember when Class was released and they watched it, they were shocked, especially people who knew me because no one thought that I will play that character. Or i will be able to do that or get that dialect. I have absolutely zero knowledge of old Delhi and how people live there. But that is what interests me, you have to do these characters that are far away from you and increase your threshold of different characters. You want your audience to be surprised and you want the directors to think more of you. When you play two different characters from two different spectrums, like VJ from Guilty was very different and Neeraj from Class is very different. And somewhere in the middle is Sher from Brahmastra. I want people to know who I work with to know that I can do this, and they just need to give me an opportunity and I can bring myself to the table and work incredibly hard. And I don’t like to think of myself as a talented actor, talent can only take you so far. You have to be a hardworking actor. I want to be the hardworking person in the room, who people will trust with all their might.
His layered character in Class is commendable, he spoke about how he handled such a complex role
I prepped for this role for about 3-4 months before we started shooting. I had everything jotted down, I had Neeraj’s entire life decided and planned before the show begins. So I knew everything, from how he grew up to how he landed up in this place where he has just come out of jail and this show has started. Once you know exactly how a character’s past years have gone by if you know that much then you go shoot and you just forget everything else. You have that in your mind and you are already that character. And I say the lines as truthfully as you can. Over time I also built a relationship with my co-actors as well, where I can sort of deal with what the character is dealing with, with the same person. So you need to prep, you cannot do that in the moment, that’s a very different style of acting. Only someone with an incredible amount of talent will be able to shoot a layered character, in the moment. Make the character as complicated as possible.
When you take on such complex characters, you tend to bring them back home with you, and here’s how Gurfateh dealt with it
Sometimes you have to, when you are at home, you have to think about the character. The more you think about it, the more you care. But obviously, at some point, you have to detach yourself. I did as much as I could. But I also broke apart from him. When I was shooting in Delhi, I was living a different life. On set I was Neeru, I was disconnected from my friends and family when I was shooting. No one knew for those 14-15 hours a day, where I was or how I was doing. And then I would come back from set, and I would meet friends and do the normal thing. And they would ask me how are you prepping for the next day. I would tell them that I have already prepped for it, I remember my lines, and I just have to go and shoot. This is my process and this is how I work. I remember calling 2-3 of my friends, who asked me what I was doing, I asked them to watch the show and see for themselves what I was doing.
They also spoke about how does one stand out in a show which has 11 main characters
If you are a good actor, you will definitely stand out. People will notice you for the right reasons. If you are in a fight to stand out in a cast of 11 people, then you lose character. If Gurfateh wants to stand out in a cast of 11 people, that’s Gurfateh, not Neeru. So when am I acting and when am I myself, I will only lose track. And that is when I know I will mess up my acting, that will be Gurfateh doing the scene and not Neeru. It is important to outshine when you can. But I prefer to do it with my acting and talent, rather than trying to make myself shown to the audience. The kind of audience I want, they’ll notice me.
And lastly, does Gurfateh have a dream role?
Of course, I have a dream role. I have a project, which is my dream project, which will happen eventually. It will happen over the next year. I have a bunch of dream roles, I want to play a gangster or an action hero, and I also want to do a toxic love film, like a marriage story or something. I also want to play a serial killer, I want to play a nice guy who loses a girl, and a bunch of things. And also films in different genres. At the top of my head would be a gangster, and the second would be an intense love story.
We also got him to update us on his next film Bedhadak…
Bedhadak will happen at some point since everyone is busy with other projects. I have another project starting soon, which was a prior commitment. So I will finish that and get on it sooner than later.
I cannot wait to catch this star in his upcoming projects, and I am sure he is going to shine through in all of them!