25 August,2020 08:24 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
A still of Ninad Mahajani from the film, Class of '83/Picture Courtesy: Official Instagram Account/Ninad Mahajani
Class of '83 is being appreciated for its performances and the way director Atul Sabhrawal has captured the milieu of the 1983 Bombay. In an interview with Supriya Nair of mid-day.com, Bobby Deol, and the boys whom he trains in the film, Bhupendra Jadawat, Ninad Mahajani, and Prithvik Pratap, speak about their experience and the elatedness after the response.
First talking about the nuances and the characteristics the actors had to get into, Ninad Mahajani speaks, "The attention to detail has always been there, I still remember walking into the Red Chillies office and seeing the placards, the posters they wanted to design. For such a film, you need proper research. The sets and the costumes were so well-created, we just seamlessly blended into it."
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Bhupendra Jadawat adds, "For me, the buses and the Bombay of that era was very fascinating for me. The most exciting aspect of 1983 were the mills, which are now shut. When we we used to visit the mills for shooting, there was a certain vibe. 80s was the era when India was just coming out of the emergency and trying to stand on its feet again. At that time, people used to talk to each other differently."
Bobby Deol says, "In 1983, I was in school, and I have seen that time and how it was, the characters were written so well for each one of us. The nuances, the lingo, everything was taken care of in the script itself. The dialogues, the scenes, when they are written well, your approach as an actor becomes like that, you start feeling it."
The next question is directed to the boys about the one thing or maybe more than one thing they learned from Bobby Deol and the experience of working in a commercial project. Deol jumps, "I took things from them, I have also learned from them."
Prithvik Pratap says, "A good actor is someone who's a good observer. All the actors and even our director have presented something on their own, things that were not in the script. We all followed what was written but there were certain things that were not in the script. There's an interrogation scene in the film where we can see the anger in Bobby Deol's eyes."
He adds, "When I come back home after doing this film, I realise I got to see two different emotions from the same eyes and that's Bobby Deol's. Deol states, "Every one has a different way of approaching a character. Acting is all about action and reaction, I was lucky to work with all these boys so your reaction becomes a lot more real. My dad always says that acting is all about Action and reaction."
Ninad Mahajani here presents his take and says, "250 people governing the crew, we have never seen that. Of course, Bobby Deol has done that for 25 years, we are just about that age. It's the calmness that we'll take away, no tantrums as they say, it's very typical , I know, but there's so much to learn for, it's the memories that we take away. The takeaway for me is that the film I've done is actually releasing. I have done two films but they are still not out. Hopefully they'll be out."
Talking about the experience of working with Bobby Deol, this is what the actors have to say, Bhupendra says, "Being a 90s kid, we have always seen his films, he has always been The Bobby Deol for us. We have danced on his songs, and then his office gate opens for us and he's sitting in front of us. It was so surreal, to see him for the first time and we were nervous. He made a bond with all of us during the shoot, he's so genuine and humble."
The actor then talks about the friendship with his fellow actors and he says, "Our friendship actually began during the auditions. We auditioned on different days so we met during workshops." The next question happens to be about Shah Rukh Khan's reaction after watching the film, since he's the producer.
Deol says, "He called me up and I was like surprised. When I spoke to him, he told me he genuinely liked the film, and not only you, everyone has done a fantastic job. Hearing that from him meant a lot. He was talking about everyone in the film. It's about the whole film being spoken in one voice, in one way. So I was very touched. He knew I was nervous because this was my first film on the OTT platform. But he asked me not to be nervous."
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