Bhuvan Arora, who is currently enjoying the success of his recent series Farzi, gets candid with The Pioneer about his audition days, having a degree from FTII, his interesting journey in this cinematic world, and more.
Shikha Duggal
There are actors, and then there are those who get skin-deep into the character with their honest on-screen portrayal. Bhuvan Arora is one of those actors. Recently seen in Farzi, which has become the most watched series now, he’s wanting to become the man of the masses. He said, “Back in the day, I remember doing 7-8 auditions a day. Now, if you come down to an approximate figure, I must have crossed 5000 auditions to be here where I am today. The auditioning process, unlike others, was not tough for me; to your surprise, I was enjoying it. The tough situations arrived when the money would run out.”
Trying to etch a permanent place in the hearts of the audiences, Bhuvan suggests, “To be an actor it does not necessarily mean that you have to have a degree from FTII. Yes, Farzi has now become the most watched series, but I am still learning. Forget about me; even the biggest of stars are continuing to learn from their subsequent projects. Formal training is not the only solution to being an actor; on-the-job training is also something that one can look out for.
But you have to make your own place because, at the end of the day, it’s all business, and the production does not have the time or bandwidth to look after you personally. However, there is one privilege to be in a film school which is that you can freely fail over there. My film school allowed me to get exposed to world cinema. I still remember that the majority of my batchmates were brought up on Bollywood cinema, but how can cinema end there? Those limitations were lifted over there.”
Telling us more about his interesting journey in this cinematic world, we get to hear from Bhuvan: “I have a habit of reading the script multiple times; it’s never enough for me. Most importantly, I want to know via script what the other characters are feeling or thinking about my character. Then I can project my character instantly on screen! I have prepared a 160-item questionnaire for myself that helps me deal with the internal conflicts of my character. There’s something very personal that I do to be an excellent actor.”
His excellency doesn’t stop there, because “I don’t want to be like any other actor. I am a huge Shahrukh Khan admirer, but I am not influenced by him. I was reluctant to do the part of Firoz in Farzi, it is true, because I had a misconception that it was going to be a really small part for me to shine in the series. It happened because the audition scene was very small for me! Who would say no to Raj and DK? But I definitely wanted to do a meatier role with them.”
After passing out from the revered walls of FTII and now making more name for himself, Bhuvan Arora, who was also seen in The Test Case opposite Nimrat Kaur, says, “It’s so beautiful to see that I am being flooded with compliments from the industry since Farzi has become a hit series. One of my favourite reviews came in from the film companion website. Because I don’t appreciate being typecast! I want my fans to look at me beyond Farzi.
Why do I do all of this? Why do I happen to discuss a lot with my co-actors because I just don’t like getting typecast! The reason that I do not use a lot of elaborative words while doing a scene is because to me feelings seals the deal. I was fortunate that Raj and DK’s treatment of the script was fantastic. If I have an intense scene on my hand, I am not going to programme myself that way because it takes me away from reality. I have seen a few of the actors actually plan for that particular scene, which is the wrong way to go ahead according to me. The minute you start planning about the scene you are going to directly go out of it.”
Now that he has a lot of projects on his hands, he is going to be really careful, he says. Reason being, he wants to make that performance of his a defining character for the coming years!
