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12th March 2008: It's been almost 10 days since Kis Desh Main Hain Mera Dil has begun, and people can't wait to see who Heer's Prem is. Well, maybe not can't wait...because rumours are abound that he is a short-lived character whose brother will take his place in the lovely village belle's heart, so viewers opt to steel themselves just in case. Until, of course, Prem arrives -- making not just Heer's heart quiver but the hearts of millions of viewers. A single, simple, oft-repeated-in-soaps scene like the rain scene post-Prem's departure from home, urges a poster to comment: "I forgot to breathe...". When his death scene arrives, only one thought lingers in the minds of the viewers: Harshad Chopda's played his role so well we don't think we can even accept him as another character romancing Heer, forget seeing her in an entirely different actor's arms!
14th June 2010: A madman as a hero? Not many people tried this technique out at the very beginning of a serial -- for a good reason. Heroes are their to create an impact. To make us swoon for them. To make us say: "Wah, kya style mara hero ne!". Could it be possible for a man with downcast eyes, a beard, uncut hair and a barely-clean kurta-pyjama to create that kind of an impact?
Cut to six months later...people still agonize over what drove Anurag Ganguly to madness, wonder pagal Onu doesn't make an appearance any more. Separate threads are created for this particular aspect of the character. Two years have passed since pagal Onu came and left, leaving a mishti-sized hole in our hearts, but people still remember Onu for exceeding the boundaries of serial-presented love, while still being so utterly human.
24th January 2012: With a heavy heart, fans of the serial Dharampatni watch the serial knowing that time is short, and that they would have to bid the serial goodbye. Having agonized over the way the storyline was handled for five months, viewers now wonder whether Mohan's change from Champu to Champion will ever be justified.
The CVs give us that: in just two minutes.
And in two minutes, Harshad Chopda wrings your heart and makes you want to hug him for what poor, confused, misled Mohan went through. Suddenly, he's not the boy to did ayyashi and paid for his immaturity -- he was a confused boy who was constantly aware of the financial pinch he was going through and doing all he could to stop it. Two minutes was all it took, and HC gave it all he got.
...so, what is it about Harshad Chopda that makes him so special to us? What is it about him that makes us connect dots even once the show is over? Why do we all end speculating entire histories from a five-minute scene? What is that special X-factor that makes us see him both as a star and a stellar actor?
In the Indian TV industry, it's easy to describe characters in just a few words - a deewana, a masoom girl, a bold character...they mostly follow a fixed pattern that doesn't allow for much change. And in a tele-world centered around a female audience, good roles for men can be hard to come by, and scope for any serious acting can be little. How is humanely possible for any actor to be able to go beyond his characters...to distinguish them from the ones he's portrayed earlier and make each one a lasting memory? How is it that Anurag can convince us that signing divorce papers with Taani is really an affirmation of his love for her? How is it that we can hate what Mohan does sometimes, but empathize with him still? How is it that Prem's public declaration of his love for Heer at his own wedding mandap shakes us at our very core, when there have been a hundred different scenes like it?
To HC, the characters he plays aren't outsiders he'll need to portray. They're people, with layers, with mannerisms that have nothing to do with HC and everything to do with them as unique individuals. Check any two scenes of his, from any two different serials, and you'll see what I mean -- no one character is the same in any way or any form. Check any interview he gives at the beginning of the serial, and listen to how he describes his character -- in an India-forums interview he relates each step of Mohan's journey from India to England and back, to layers that form over the character's personality, and how these circumstances build him into the person he is. In an SBB interview on his second day at the Saubhagyavati sets, he speaks of Raghav's connection with Sia as one that forms when you see your own pain in another person's eyes.
When Harshad Chopda speaks of the characters he has portrayed, you can almost sense the convinction he has that this character is special, that it is the kind of role you should feel passionate about and give your cent-percent -- so when Ali of Kanpur with his trademark shyness can nowhere be compared to Anurag Ganguly, who is just as introverted, it's because HC has convinced us that the demons haunting Anurag are different. Mohan's wit sparkles in his exchanges with his Mamu, his mother and later his wife, but we can tell immediately why Raghav's wit is different -- Mohan's wit has loads to do with hiding his inner feelings with nonchalance; Raghav's wit is more on-the-go, used as a weapon to ensure that he silences his opponent. And if you check his interviews, none of these will share much with the real Harshad Chopda, besides his physical attributes and his green ring.
Even the little things he incorporates into his characters makes him special. He makes Prem an agonized not-so-perfect man when he lives alone with Heer, he schools a number of Anurag's expressions to match the one's played by his younger counterpart, Devarsh (the way he caresses his chest, for instance), his Mohan plays the rebel by turning his ring inside-out, wearing T-shirts with smart-alec captions and adopting lazy, care-a-darn body movements.
HC doesn't just act out his characters -- he creates their stories, gives you a million reasons behind an action, with just a look. It's a technique that seems effortless, but that involved years of sweat and change -- from his roles in Mamta, Left Right Left and Amber Dhara, where he was not the focus of attention yet managed to make his presence felt. He regards his roles the way he regards his fans: unique and special, precious the way they are, an outlet for his own vast creative fervor which we hope he never stops dazzling us with!
Happy birthday, HC, and we hope the coming years will provide us more time with you, more time to delve into your roles as passionately as you act them out, more time to relish in your camaraderie with the people in your sets, more time to peel and unravel whatever you play -- to us, you're not just cute' or hot or stylish. To us you're the reason we go on a journey to understand a character, and would gladly choose to travel the same road again. Thank you for making us, your fans, part of this wonderful creative journey you have created...for being an utter gentleman who never ever loses his sense of fun. Thank you for making us love who you play as much as you do, and thank you for being the hardworking, passionate, creative force that you are!
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6I6sEefYGk&feature=youtu.be[/YOUTUBE]
writeup credit: liz
siggy credit: sugi
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