Aditya Rawal on Understanding the Twisted Psyche of his Character in Daldal: I took a deep dive into the research of addiction and how it works
Aditya Rawal is basking in the love pouring in for his latest release Daldal, a psychological crime thriller that sees him as Sajid, a drug addict caught between destruction and dependency. Aditya expresses sheer joy with how audiences are understanding the internalized conflict of Sajid. “The fact that it (performance) is grounded and internalized comes from the confidence that I seem to have a grasp of the people that I’m trying to play. Without that confidence, one might end up doing too much or something that feels superficial. So, I’m glad that comes across,” shares Aditya.
Aditya even emphasised that preparations have allowed him to learn a lot, right from his first film Bamfaad to his latest release Daldal – including firing a bow and arrow, learning accents, holy scriptures, the radicalism of youth, the Quran and more. In his debut film, Bamfaad, Aditya made a promising entry with a daring concept surrounding inter-faith love and politics, highlighting his potential to make off-beat choices from his first film itself.
Speaking about preparing for his role, Aditya reveals engaging in readings and discussions with director Amrit Raj Gupta and co-star Samara Tijori. “I took a deep dive into the research of addiction and how it works – manifests it more physically and mentally, most certainly – but also the mind of an addict, what goes on and how one’s ego breaks down, how one becomes vulnerable and then tries to shield that vulnerability; rage also comes into play,” he shares, adding that he discovered a lot more by reading, watching documentaries and visiting rehabilitation centres, especially the Freedom Centre outside Mumbai.
“It was the most important,” he says about visiting the rehabilitation centre and continues, “I went there a few times, spoke a lot to Brian (Freedom Centre), and had tons of questions for him from the script. Infact Suresh Triveni and Amrit Raj Gupta were very happy to accommodate the discoveries we made there, only to increase the sense of authenticity. Brian was also present on set whenever we were doing something to do with the usage of drugs or characters in withdrawal. That was just great; all the details came from there. Everything we had was verified. So, one felt even more confident in what one was doing and one could just concentrate on being true in anything for effect.”
Aditya Rawal, with a sharp performance, lends weight to the series that’s tight and doesn’t waste time with frills and fancies. Based on Vish Dhamija’s book ‘Bhendi Bazaar’, Daldal brings together Bhumi Satish Pednekkar, Aditya Rawal and Samara Tijori among others. Helmed by Amrit Raj Gupta and produced by Vikram Malhotra and Suresh Triveni, Daldal has begun streaming on Amazon Prime Video.