MADHUR MITTAL, who plays Raju in MX Player’s Matsya Kaand, speaks with SUPRIYA RAMESH about his role, his experience doing a thriller-con and how acting happened

What is Matsya Kaand about?

It's basically a cat and mouse game between two equally intelligent and genius people. That's Matsya played by Ravii Dubey and Ravi Krishan ji is playing Tej Raj, the guy is trying to catch Matsya. It's just a brilliant back and forth, trying to out wit each other. Which I think is fabulous. It's more like brains over brawn, which is more interesting to watch and along with that you have an incredible ensemble of cast playing all of these characters that make the show come to life.

What is your role?

I play Raju, who I think in some ways the heart of the show. In the sense that he is very jugaadu. The trait that leads him to meet Matsya and become a part of his team. The three people team where Raju is the glue that holds the team together. He is a little clumsy, he is very disarming, full of heart, warmth and very loyal. That's what attracted me to this character. A sweet boy that I don't think people have had the chance to see this character before. That's the main reason why I wanted to do this.

How did you land this project?

Mr Gautam Talwar, who is the chief content officer of MX player was very kind enough to set up a meeting with me and Ajay sir. That's because he thought I was right for the character. We met and instantly clicked. I love Ajay sir's energy, the way he is so calm and incredibly supportive. With him, it felt free. We had a couple of meetings and he thought I was right for the part and I obviously loved it because I haven't done something like this before. The show was great and fantastic people in it from the creators to the cast.

How tough was this role?

More than tough, I would like to say it was very exciting and fun. I mean every job is tough in its own way but for me, because I love acting so much, they seem like opportunities rather than obstacles.

This was a team effort. You can make paintings alone, songs alone, most of the arts alone but you can't make a show alone. You need a great team around you and luckily we found amazing people that all just fit like a Legos together. It was like clockwork and we were working. It was just a fantastic experience.

How has your experience been with your co -stars?

Ravi bhaiya and Zoya are so fun to be with. All three of us bonded a lot after work. Zoya’s mom was with us as well.

All of us would go out to so many dinners and lunches as much as we could during COVID with the places that were open. We had a tremendous time gorging on all sorts of food.

I always made everyone jealous of my samosas because I would eat everything while Ravi bhaiya and Zoya would watch what they eat. That was my favourite thing to do. We had an incredible time. The whole show has been fantastic.

You have been on screen from a very young age. How did acting happen? 

Acting happened a little late. I started my career as a dancer. I won Boogie Woogie back in 1997.  After that me and my father, we all came to Bombay so that I could have a career. Through dancing a lot of people suggested that because I was very expressive in dance and I should try acting. I started giving a few auditions and then my first film was One Two Ka Four. I got another one with Salman called Kahi Pyaar Na Hojaye. So then the acting journey started and somewhere down the line I felt that I was a better actor than a dancer. So around the age of 14 I focused all my energy into acting and the universe has been kind. At the age of 18 I was at the Oscars with Slumdog Millionaire.

You are known for Slumdog Millionaire and your role and acting is highly appreciated. How tough was it to get into that character of Salim? 

For Salim, the main thing was, before that I had never played a grey character. Even now, people associate to that sort of characters. Before that I was this very timid sort of nice guy. I was a kid so I played a kid, all of the things that I had done before, there is nothing grey about that. So to get someone like Salim who was more complicated under the surface. It's not just a guy who is doing bad things to get money. There are layers there and obviously you get to see them as the film progresses.

It was super intense and luckily Danny Boyle was a director who sat down with me because I was a young actor. We had workshops with him for couple of months. Almost two and a half to three months before the film began. It was very guided, that time I wasn't even evolved enough as an actor to bring a lot of myself to the character. I did my fair share of research like I went out with some guys who had a similar vibe like Salim and I realised that people who do bad things arent that bad inherently. Things have happened to them which doesn't really justify what they do but you can understand it in a way. That's how I started approaching that character.

What has been the most challenging role till now?

I think the most challenging role that I have done was in this Disney film called Million Dollar Arm. That was difficult because I had done a sports film before Slumdog Millionaire. This was about baseball and I had no clue about it. I had never picked up a baseball in my life before, which was great in a way because the character also goes through the same journey. But physically, it was very enduring because for three months, we had coaches and rigorous training programme. I had to put up some muscle so, it was very physically demanding and that was one of the first times I had to do that.

I would say that because of the physicality of it and the second one would be this film called Matr which was was after this life-ending car crash that I had been through. In which I had almost completely lost my face. I had to get multiple surgeries done to look like myself again. Because of the accident, I thought

I would never act again. The film was super exciting but also very scary. That character took a lot out of me as well.

What genre do you prefer?

I will always say yes to a genre that I haven't had the chance to do yet. Funny but yeah science- fiction is the one. A film like Sunshine by Danny Boyle or like the Arrival. I love films like that. I almost did get a show like that but I missed out on it due to date issues. Something in that realm, I would absolutely jump up.