Actor Chirag Vohra, who has become a prominent figure in the Indian entertainment industry, showcasing his versatility, gets candid with The Pioneer about his recent teleplay Orange Juice, its concept, and more.
Tejal Sinha
Apart from the upstanding silver screen actor that he is, Chirag Vohra has certainly been a majestic theatre artist too. His recent venture into the teleplay world, with Zee Theatre’s Orange Juice, was no less than an overwhelming feeling to be a part of it.
He is a prominent figure in the Indian entertainment industry, showcasing his versatility in different mediums, and has also acted in popular films like OMG—Oh My God!, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, Hey Babyy, Mangal Pandey, Crash Course, and Scam 1992 (2020).
Orange Juice explores greed and lust as corrupting influences. As the subject of the teleplay and the character portrayal indicate, this story is about a person from a small town who has never received much but suddenly gets everything. It’s also true that sometimes, when everything suddenly falls into place all at once, a person finds it hard to digest the good fortune. So, the Scam 1992 actor shares, “The lesson you can take away from this character is that when you achieve success, you should also have the strength, grace, and poise to handle it. If you can’t handle your success, then the consequences can get quite complicated. Greed and lust often lead people to make irreversible mistakes, and through his teleplay, the writer wants to convey that it’s important to maintain balance in your life, to follow your principles, and to discipline yourself. The story also underscores the importance of standing by each other and supporting one another as a family during difficult times. Instead of giving importance to just one family member, it’s important to understand everyone’s problems with equal empathy. These are some of the salient themes, and I am sure the teleplay will communicate them to a wider audience now that it has been dubbed in Telugu and Kannada.”
Be it Aanjjan Srivastav, who is a very senior actor, or even Anupriya, whose work has been well appreciated on OTT platforms and in movies, everyone he shares is very supportive of him. He enthuses, “Anupriya is so disciplined and always strives to portray her characters in a very positive way. Aanjjan Ji, Anupriya, Divya Jagdale, and Kavin Dave created a wonderful environment of teamwork. Acting, I believe, is all about action and reaction, and so when a co-actor reacts to what you are doing, it elevates your performance considerably. When the person opposite you performs well, then your performance also gets better. These exceptional actors helped my performance stand out uniquely, and I would love to work with them again.
Having worked with the director of this play, Manoj Shah, and the writer, Uttam Ravji Gada, in the past. The Heyy Babyy actor further shares, “Even though Uttam Ji is no longer with us, I feel fortunate to have had the chance to perform in his plays. I have always been a great fan of his writing. With Manoj, I remain connected through theatre, and there is a certain understanding between us that helps us to communicate and understand each other’s thoughts without even saying anything. We know each other’s work quite well, and our creative boundaries get stretched when we work together. It is always a satisfying experience to work with him.”
Orange Juice is about organ donation for profit, and there may be situations where, because of extreme poverty, people have to sell their organs for money. Despite the laws, unfortunately, such practices may still be continuing. The teleplay, he says, also reveals that many of us live very privileged and secure lives and don’t have to face such dire situations. On the other hand, he says, “A poor person may be so distressed that they are willing to go to any extent and may even sell their organs. If we can bring about basic economic equity, then such issues can be resolved. I think it focuses not only on economic inequality but also on how some people want to earn money but don’t want to work hard. The gap between the haves and have-nots keeps increasing. And if we talk about people with privilege and stable financial status, some of them may have earned money through unfair means. Today, the rich and the poor are at very different levels, and this disparity is very challenging. Some people may live very abundant and peaceful lives, while others may face extreme poverty. It is hard to ascertain what can be done to solve this problem.”
The Billu actor feels that, in today’s time, theatre and cinema are really important. “During the pandemic, after staying confined in their homes with their mobile phones, people understood the importance of theatre and live entertainment. Even otherwise, the sense of community that theatre provides is not easy to come by, as most people now live in nuclear families. They often feel lonely and isolated socially, and that is why the importance of entertainment, be it in cinema halls or in the form of live entertainment, will only increase,” shares the actor, who primarily looks into the script, character, and director to get on board for a project. The adept actor on the work front has a Disney+ Hotstar web series Lootere that is in the post-production phase and will soon be released.
Apart from the upstanding silver screen actor that he is, Chirag Vohra has certainly been a majestic theatre artist too. His recent venture into the teleplay world, with Zee Theatre’s Orange Juice, was no less than an overwhelming feeling to be a part of it.
He is a prominent figure in the Indian entertainment industry, showcasing his versatility in different mediums, and has also acted in popular films like OMG—Oh My God!, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, Hey Babyy, Mangal Pandey, Crash Course, and Scam 1992 (2020).
Orange Juice explores greed and lust as corrupting influences. As the subject of the teleplay and the character portrayal indicate, this story is about a person from a small town who has never received much but suddenly gets everything. It’s also true that sometimes, when everything suddenly falls into place all at once, a person finds it hard to digest the good fortune. So, the Scam 1992 actor shares, “The lesson you can take away from this character is that when you achieve success, you should also have the strength, grace, and poise to handle it. If you can’t handle your success, then the consequences can get quite complicated. Greed and lust often lead people to make irreversible mistakes, and through his teleplay, the writer wants to convey that it’s important to maintain balance in your life, to follow your principles, and to discipline yourself. The story also underscores the importance of standing by each other and supporting one another as a family during difficult times. Instead of giving importance to just one family member, it’s important to understand everyone’s problems with equal empathy. These are some of the salient themes, and I am sure the teleplay will communicate them to a wider audience now that it has been dubbed in Telugu and Kannada.”
Be it Aanjjan Srivastav, who is a very senior actor, or even Anupriya, whose work has been well appreciated on OTT platforms and in movies, everyone he shares is very supportive of him. He enthuses, “Anupriya is so disciplined and always strives to portray her characters in a very positive way. Aanjjan Ji, Anupriya, Divya Jagdale, and Kavin Dave created a wonderful environment of teamwork. Acting, I believe, is all about action and reaction, and so when a co-actor reacts to what you are doing, it elevates your performance considerably. When the person opposite you performs well, then your performance also gets better. These exceptional actors helped my performance stand out uniquely, and I would love to work with them again.
Having worked with the director of this play, Manoj Shah, and the writer, Uttam Ravji Gada, in the past. The Heyy Babyy actor further shares, “Even though Uttam Ji is no longer with us, I feel fortunate to have had the chance to perform in his plays. I have always been a great fan of his writing. With Manoj, I remain connected through theatre, and there is a certain understanding between us that helps us to communicate and understand each other’s thoughts without even saying anything. We know each other’s work quite well, and our creative boundaries get stretched when we work together. It is always a satisfying experience to work with him.”
Orange Juice is about organ donation for profit, and there may be situations where, because of extreme poverty, people have to sell their organs for money. Despite the laws, unfortunately, such practices may still be continuing. The teleplay, he says, also reveals that many of us live very privileged and secure lives and don’t have to face such dire situations. On the other hand, he says, “A poor person may be so distressed that they are willing to go to any extent and may even sell their organs. If we can bring about basic economic equity, then such issues can be resolved. I think it focuses not only on economic inequality but also on how some people want to earn money but don’t want to work hard. The gap between the haves and have-nots keeps increasing. And if we talk about people with privilege and stable financial status, some of them may have earned money through unfair means. Today, the rich and the poor are at very different levels, and this disparity is very challenging. Some people may live very abundant and peaceful lives, while others may face extreme poverty. It is hard to ascertain what can be done to solve this problem.”
The Billu actor feels that, in today’s time, theatre and cinema are really important. “During the pandemic, after staying confined in their homes with their mobile phones, people understood the importance of theatre and live entertainment. Even otherwise, the sense of community that theatre provides is not easy to come by, as most people now live in nuclear families. They often feel lonely and isolated socially, and that is why the importance of entertainment, be it in cinema halls or in the form of live entertainment, will only increase,” shares the actor, who primarily looks into the script, character, and director to get on board for a project. The adept actor on the work front has a Disney+ Hotstar web series Lootere that is in the post-production phase and will soon be released.
