Actor
Hrishikesh Pandey has been getting a lot of appreciation for his double role in
Siddharth Kumar Tewary’s Porus. The actor says that not only are the two roles
diverse, the look too is absolutely different. “Playing a double role is really
interesting, one is of Senapati Ripu Daman and the other one is a pirate who
hides his identity and becomes Sajjan Singh, saving the Porus and the kingdom.
So for that, he has to sacrifice a lot. And the interesting part is, the entire
look, the hairstyle, costume is different. A little change in moustache is also
there. When I am playing a warrior the moustache is up and when I am playing a
pirate the moustache is down,” he says.
The
actor considers himself lucky to bag a double role on the small screen. “On
television, you hardly get to play such a role. Most of the television shows,
you play a double role like father and son, where the two looks are alike. But
this has a different timing of the same person and he comes and hides his
identity and becomes the other person,” he says.
Talking
more about his character of Ripu Daman, Hrishikesh says, “Ripu Daman is loyal
to King Bamani, Porus's father. He is his loyal right-hand man who is a
Senapati, a general commandant man of the army. He sacrifices his life, family
and everything to secure the child and the kingdom,” he says.
The
actor got injured on the sets of the show as well. Ask him if he feels these
injuries are inevitable in a period drama, and he says, “Yes, that's absolutely
true we keep getting hurt, not only me but my other co-stars also. I was
shooting one sequel, where I cut myself and was bleeding profusely. However, I
finished the scene and then rushed to the hospital. There are a lot of tough
situations when you can get hurt, but at the end of the day, the result is good
and you enjoy yourself. You are appreciated and all the pain goes away. I also
got a lot of bruises and cracks everywhere because of the rocks, whenever you
are in the water you won't realise how deep you go.”
However,
he isn’t complaining. Action still remains Hrishikesh’s favourite genre. “I
think action activities are always fun and also keeps you fit. I love doing
these kinds of shows. They are not the typical saas-bahu sagas, though I have
done Saas-Bahu shows in the past as well. It's not like I run away from them
but I love doing action on screen. I have done action in CID for so many years
and also in Special Bureau and Sakshi on Sony. The action in Porus is totally
different. In the previous shows, I used to fight with my hands and run around.
But in historical shows, it's different. We have sword fights and horses,” he
says.
Another
special thing about Hrishikesh’s look in Porus in that it is very different
from others shows. “I have gone for a makeover because it's been 15 or 16 years that I have not
change my look much. I have always kept a clean-shaven look in romantic, action
and saas-bahu shows. This is the first time I thought of changing my look. We
all have worked very hard on the look. So I tried doing that and we have
succeeded. People hardly recognise me in my new look, and half the job is
done,” he says.
