Exclusive: Bestseller actor Arjan Bajwa talks about working with Mithun Chakraborty, Shruti Haasan

Image: Arjan Bajwa/Instagram

From Maniratnam’s Guru to Madhu Bhandarkar’s Fashion, Akshay Kumar starrer Rustom and Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh, actor Arjan Bajwa has come a long way in the film industry. The actor has not only proved his mettle in the Hindi film industry but also in Telugu films. Ahead of the release of Amazon Prime Video’s psychological thriller ‘Bestseller’, where he plays the role of author Tahir Wazir – the protagonist of the series, Arjan gets candid with Asianet Newsable about the series, working in OTT and the differences and similarities between Hindi and South film industries. Excerpts:

How has been your experience of working with the stellar cast of Bestseller, including legendary actor Mithun Chakraborty and Shruti Haasan?

Arjan Bajwa: Mithun Da’s attitude in life is as young as it can be. He is still very upbeat and enthusiastic about his work even after doing over 300 films, and after so much stardom, if he is excited about what he is doing, it shows how an actor’s attitude towards work should be. I hope I can imbibe this kind of attitude from him in my life, at the same time absorb his good energies. Speaking of Shruti Haasan and Gauahar Khan, both are accomplished in their own way. They are both extremely professional. Shruti is such a multi-faceted person; she is an award-winning actor as well as a singer. Gauhar is also accomplished as an actress in so many things. I had a great time working with all of them. The whole camaraderie between all the characters will show very much on the screen. The response that we have got from the trailer is that the chemistry between all the characters is working very well with each other.

How do you think have OTT platforms changed filmmaking?

Arjan Bajwa: OTT has been a boon. It has made it possible for filmmakers to make stories that needed elaborated time to tell them, which were not possible in terms of films that have a time limit. A lot of interesting stories which were probably not being made because of time constraints are being made, however, the filmmaking process remains the same. At the same time, the reach of the films or series has become big with OTT. You have audiences in different countries where the films wouldn’t release earlier which is now possible. With the advent of OTT, films and series made in any language are going in every nook and corner of the world, allowing people to watch it with subtitles or dubbed in their language.

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Having worked with the Hindi film industry as well as the Telugu film industry, do you find any difference between the two in terms of work culture?

Arjan Bajwa: I have worked in some 11 to 12 films down south and honestly, I did not find any difference as such because filmmakers have a similar scenario everywhere. The process of filmmaking remains the same. I am very fortunate that I am a part of both industries; both are home for me. These days, there are no different industries as they all have become one. Films are being dubbed into multiple languages and people are watching them. There remains no divide anymore.

After having played a variety of characters, is there a particular role that you wish to do in future?

Arjan Bajwa: Your choice of roles changes from time to time. When you are younger, you look at things differently and over a period of time your mindset changes. There is not one role that I want to do but so many of them. However, of late, I saw this series called Peaky Blinders. A role in that called Thomas Shelby is something that will be a dream come true for me.

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• Arjan Bajwa
• Bestseller
• Mithun Chakraborty
• Shruti Haasan