I feel very happy and fortunate that my first Bollywood film is a hit at the box office : Siddharth Bodke
Ajay Devgn and Tabu starrer Drishyam 2 is a smashing hit and has given a much needed relief to the Hindi film box office. Actor Siddharth Bodke played the pivotal role of David in the film and has been getting a lot of positive feedback. Speaking more about his preparations for David and how he grabbed the role he says, "I got a call from Vicky Sidana’s casting agency and was auditioned for another role in the film. I even got selected for that. Later Abhishek Pathak, the director, asked me to audition for David's character and that’s how I got the role. I must say I loved playing it as it was challenging.” Speaking further about his preparation, he says, "It’s a Goan Catholic character. I spoke to some local people in Goa to understand their dialect. Later I asked the director to change the voice of the character a bit, so I put a bit of husky voice to it. This was required since my character was a drug dealer previously. I have also tried to find some nuances of David. When I met the director for the first time he told me to put on some weight so I gained around 4-5 kg for the role and my thick beard supported my look.”
Interestingly the film started with Siddharth and his role is critical in the climax - how did director Abhishek Pathak brief you?
“Yes the film starts with me and it’s a very important character for the story. Abhishek had narrated everything to me before the shoot and we had met in his office before going to Goa. He explained the whole graph and when we were on set we first used to discuss the graph to maintain the mood and the intensity.” Those who have seen Drishyam 2 know that a lot of his scenes have high intensity through Siddharth’s eyes - what’s your take on that?
“When you have dialogues, it becomes a little easier for an actor to express the character but here dialogues were less and most of the part was about him observing things. I was focused on it. When I had some doubt, I used to ask the director whether it can be seen in the eyes or not. Abhishek was very supportive and even if I wanted to do one more take then he allowed me to do it because it was a bit challenging to express from the eyes in a subtle manner. I am happy that my part came out to be nice and has been liked by people.” Siddharth also shares his equation with Ajay Devgn on and off the set. He adds,”It was amazing to work with him. They are stars for a reason and why are they stars, you will come to know when one works with them. The way he carries his professionalism on sets is very commendable. Whenever he used to come on set, almost everything was okay in one take. Working for so many years in front of the camera, he has that ease and calmness in his work. I was constantly observing him, we didn’t have many scenes together but for those 2-3 scenes that we did, I observed everything about him and tried to learn. Off camera I talked to him and he is very down to earth and a very sweet guy. Once the entire cast and crew had a party with him and we enjoyed it a lot. He is very collaborative and used to crack jokes as well.”
Drishyam 2 is a hit and brought a lot of positivity in the box office status - what do you have to say about that?
“I feel very happy and fortunate that my first Bollywood film is a hit at the box office. There are houseful shows and it’s a big thing for the film industry. Post pandemic there are very few films which have worked. I feel very happy to be a part of this hit movie and I hope it becomes a super hit.”
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