His best foot forward

Sheetal

Dark psychological thriller is a genre less explored in Indian original content. Yet, when an ensemble cast of talented Bollywood actors, including Shruti Haasan, Arjan Bajwa, Mithun Chakraborty, Gauahar Khan, Satyajeet Dubey and Sonalee Kulkarni, comes together to deliver a story, it’s generates all the excitement. As their series Bestseller releases on Amazon Prime Video this Friday, Arjan Bajwa gives a detailed overview of the project.

Arjun believes the script has to be appealing in the first place, which indeed was the case with Bestseller. Portraying the character of a successful and celebrated author, Tahir Wazir, the actor says, “Psychological thrillers, be it international or Indian, can be very one-dimensional, which isn’t the case with Bestseller. There are one too many things happening and there are multiple layers to the story, which keeps you hooked. I am really excited to be part of it. Also, it came to me through our casting director Kavish Sinha, who told me to read the script once. It was a very long one, about 450 pages. But the more I read it, the more I got hooked. And then I came to know Sidharth Malhotra was producing, while Mukul Abhyankar came on board to direct it! I have known the two for a very long time. So once you know the script is great and so are the people who are on board, it’s a win-win situation.”

Taking up challenges

The actor feels it is very important to be challenged, “With a psychological thriller, I got the complete chance to do something more. As far as being addicted to a certain genre goes, I am as excited to play more such characters as also other challenging roles that may vary in terms of genre.”

Ask Arjan if the series ends on a happy note for his character, he does not reveal much. “However it may end, we will pick it up for another season. But that will take some time.”

Bestseller will be Arjan’s second web series after State Of Seige 26/11, but it is the first where he plays an author, “But it doesn’t make a difference. For it is not a biopic on a writer. There are many other facets in Tahir’s life that make him a wholesome character, so much more than a writer.”

As far as the star cast goes, he believes everybody has brought out their best, “I enjoyed working with all of them. We had a lot of readings before the shoot and that reflected on the sets. Mithun sir was very kind and jovial and I am glad to have shared screen space with him. I almost had scenes with everyone, so had a great time.”

On what has Arjan discovered about himself during this project, he says, “I have a lot of stamina to work. So many times, we shot for long hours.”

Changing content

On the changing trends in content-viewing, Arjan opines, “The audience has become much more intelligent and evolved now. Everybody wants to see good content and in different language; everything has larger audience. And I am happy to be part of these times – the evolution of cinema.” Looking forward to doing a Punjabi film, Arjan says, ‘Punjabi is my mother tongue. I can read, write and speak the language.” The actor swears by This Is Us series on Amazon for binge-watching and one film that touched his heart was Sardar Udham.