Mohit Raina became a household name with the mythology drama Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev in which he played Lord Shiva and later went on to play Ashoka in Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat — both popular shows on the small screen.
Mohit continued to prove his versatility with his Bollywood debut film Uri: The Surgical Strike, which was a huge box office success.
Having tasted success on the small and big screen, he is now making waves on the digital platform with the recently released Kaafir and will soon be seen in the Netflix mystery Mrs. Serial Killer. Let’s hear from the man himself about his move from one platform to another...Excerpts from the interview:
What made you say yes to Kaafir?
There was no reason for me to say no! There are very few ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ moments which come an actor’s way, and Kaafir was one such moment for me — a very sweetly written story with a nicely nourished role that comes on a platter to you...this doesn't happen in an actor's life very often.
There are some scripts where things look forced or the characters aren’t true to the emotions, and then are characters which are author-backed and stories that you get attached to...Kaafir was once such script and Vedant was one such character and I knew I had to do it.
Also the kind of team that was coming together was amazing. Zee, as we all know, has a phenomenal global reach and with Dia Mirza being in the show, Bhavani Iyer writing it and an amazing director like Sonam Nair at the helm...all this put together made it a wonderful experience.
Any special prep you underwent?
Yes, we had a lot of reading sessions because every character has its own demands and the demand of this character, Vedant Rathod, was to connect emotionally with him.
We also had to get a grasp of other characters and finding a way to infuse our own character in the story. Whenever a character has an emotional journey it becomes very challenging for the actor to play the part. What happens is whenever you are playing a character you do a lot of homework, workshops and prep.
Here too we had to do that, but the prep was of a different kind — we had to absorb every scene and situation. That was the prep we were told to do because it’s a very heavy, emotional and gut-wrenching story.
And for characters like these you can’t have one particular kind or type of practice. We also made the character look like he doesn’t take care of himself, he is lost in his own thoughts, doesn’t indulge in too much grooming either…he’s not a very neat or crisp.
How was it working with Dia Mirza?
It was a fantastic experience. We all know what a phenomenal actor she is. She’s been in the film industry for many years and is a very experienced and nuanced actor.
So, when you have someone like her on board your responsibility increases, because expectations go high and you are expected to deliver accordingly. She is a very hard-working and an amazing human being.
And all these things help you bond with the other person, which in turn helps you understand their character as well and helps you become a better co-actor.
What was your biggest takeaway from Kaafir?
Personally, from Vedant as a character I learnt patience and from Kainaaz’s character I learnt how to be strong in times of crisis. These are the two things that I have learnt from Kaafir’s story.
You became a household name with Mahadev. How easy or difficult was it to break out of that character. Also, do people still call you Mahadev?
I have always said that when they still call me Mahadev, it’s their way of showing love and it will always be like that. I too have a connection with them and I think that will always remain.
But that doesn’t mean that you cannot play any other characters. Times have changed now and people know that you are an actor and they will slowly accept you in other roles as well.
Every character that you have played so far is different — be it mythology, history, a surgical strike film or Kaafir. Was it a conscious effort to pick up different characters?
It is a conscious effort to try and explore the world to which I have never been. And that is what actors try and do and that is what acting does to you. So it’s a deliberate attempt to be seen in different projects.
You started off as a model and ended up being an actor. Was that a planned journey as well?
It was planned because after sometime I realised that modelling was not meant for me. I am an expressive person and to show my expressive side it was very important for me to be in front of the camera.
Will we see you on small screen again?
Not right now. But later if an interesting project comes my way I will surely consider taking it up.
What next after Kaafir?
I do have a few different projects (films and web series both) where I will be essaying diverse characters. But because they aren’t not officially announced yet I will let the makers people do that.
Films, web series, television...what do you prefer?
I prefer web series because it gives you ample time to understand the story and the character. It also gives you right amount of time required to build the story of a particular character.
What happens in films is you have limited time of two and a half hours and in television you have so much time that characters get lost over a span of few episodes and they become different from what was perceived earlier.
Web series give you the right medium to express the characteristics of a person in a good amount of time — you have about 10 episodes which are more than enough to tell your story.
