BHARATI PAWASKAR
It was a day in 2006 when little Darsheel Safary, a student at Shamak Davar’s dancing school then, was called for audition for Amir Khan’s upcoming movie. Not knowing what audition procedure is, nine-year-old Darsheel was already on cloud eleven, thinking he was selected. Luckily, later in the audition he was actually selected and offered the role of Ishaan Awasthi in Amir Khan’s home production Taare Zameen Par and as we all know, the rest is history!
Recalling those days, Darsheel who turned 22 this March, smiles, “I vividly remember every detail. We had to take permission from my school to go for shooting. Mostly kept in vacations I didn’t miss out anything much. It took us two-three months to complete the shooting. My teachers at school used to come to the sets and guide me. We played card games and had lot of fun too. I enjoyed the process thoroughly. And I must thank my star(s) Amir ji who was instrumental in changing the track of my entire life and making me who I am today.”
Falling in love with ‘acting’ at that tender age, Darsheel unknowingly zeroed it as his goal. He was already into dancing since the age of four-five. An extra-hyper kid, his parents had enrolled him to various classes to keep him engaged. He was into gymnastic and swimming too. An ardent Michael Jackson fan like his father Mukesh and grandfather Rajendra, he admits that dancing is his second love (after acting) and proved his dancing skills in the reality television show Jhalak Dikkhla Ja as a contestant.
Darsheel loves the diversity in his profession. He has acted in Disney India’s Zokkomon, Priyadarshan’s Bum Bum Bole and Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children, alongside personalities like Anupam Kher and Shabana Azmi. These films offered him varied characters. However he finds theatre more satisfying and he fell in love with the thrill that it offers after he premièred in the field with an English comedy, Can I Help You in 2016. His co-actors in the play were veterans Ananth Mahadevan and Joy Sengupta. For Darsheel acting on stage was again, a totally new experience with a lot of learning involved in it. With his entry on stage, his entire perception of acting changed.
Can I Help You did around 60 shows and each show taught Darsheel something new. He explored and learnt new skills; improvised his own. “Theatre has helped sharpen my acting skills further. One has to immerse in the role. Theatre is ridiculously impactful and one can send across a message through this medium which can change and transform people’s lives. I want to be that person who works towards bringing a positive change in the societal mind-set through acting,” states Darsheel who is currently performing a lead in his third collaboration with Out of the Box Production, titled Kaise Karenge a Hindi play.
Darsheel who has written and directed a short film, Call of the Void is a story of three friends. A psychological and horror thriller, the film will be released shortly. It may be recalled that in Taare Zameen Par Darsheel played the character of an autistic child Ishaan who is sent to boarding school is helped by an unconventional art teacher (Amir Khan) who tries to help this imaginative student to discover his true identity. It sounds to be a coincident that Two Adorable Losers also depicts the story of a close bond between a teacher and his student, both of who suffer inferiority complex. Ultimately they both help each other to come out of their complexes and emerge as winners. This emotional and psychological drama will soon be touching century mark.
“We are really excited in bringing ‘Two Adorable Losers’ to Goa. This will be our 20th State. It’s our first time in Goa with this particular play and our 93rd show; we had performed another play in Goa years back. It was lots of fun… Looking forward to make great memories with the people here,” exclaims 28-year-old actor Abhishek Pattanaik, also the writer of the play who performs the role of a 52-year-old professor in the play.
It is an English comedy about a professor from a rural state (Odisha), weak in his English diction and a TYBA Psychology student, weak in Statistics. Both suffer from the same problem - an inferiority complex. As the coaching progresses, their relationship evolves from teacher-student, to father-son, to two friends, to business partners, and whatever else that fits the viewer’s description. Will they succeed in their respective motives? It is left to the audiences to watch and decide.
