Actor Aamir Bashir tells Sakshi Sharma that finding an older and more mature character within himself, for his forthcoming Inside Edge 2, was not easy
Enacting a character, the perception of whom has already been set in people’s mind in the first season, is almost like doing a biopic,” says actor Aamir Bashir, who portrays the character of Bhaisaab in Amazon Prime Video’s Inside Edge 2.
But Bashir is weighed down by expectations. In the first season, the character was omnipresent though nobody had seen him. Says he, “Everyone had formed a distinctively appealing image of Bhaisaab. It was practically as if the audience was begging that this character should be revealed because they had their own interpretations of it. Bringing a fictional character to life was very exciting.”
In the series, Aamir’s characters wants to change the face of cricket by transforming it into a global sport rather than just being a Commonwealth one. But it is yet to be seen whether he is doing all this for the love of the game or if there’s a different motive behind it. The season also has Arvind Vashistha (Angad Bedi) and Vayu Raghavan (Tanuj Virwani) pitted against each other as they are the captains of two different teams. They shared a great bond in the first season.
Bhaisaab is a middle-aged man and playing an older and more mature character was exciting for Aamir. “Older people are more experienced and have more shades of grey. This allowed me to explore myself to a greater extent. I can recall one of my school plays where I played an old man and got a standing ovation for it. That was the first time I felt I am good at it,” says he.
However, portraying yourself as a person who is more mature than your actual age comes with its own challenges. “Finding an older, more mature and powerful character within yourself is not easy. But finding the kind of motivation the character has, was exciting. Every person has his/her own strengths, weaknesses and obsession. So you have to translate that in the character you are playing. This makes the challenge very personal. It is always about finding the darker or lighter area within yourself,” he says.
But the actor sees it as an opportunity to explore and learn something new as it demands coming out of your comfort zone. Recently, in Sacred Games (2019), he played the role of Majid Khan, which was very different from this one. He says, “Majid was in his 30s and a bit more energetic, who had the power to manipulate people to make some change. Physically, he is laidback and a lot slower than Bhaisaab but at the same time, a little more measured. So by playing different roles, one’s comfort zone also shifts.”
After doing one of his films, A Wednesday, Aamir felt typecast. For a year and a half, he got similar roles. But as the digital space expands, it has given the actors a lot more scope to flesh out different roles. “It is always more gratifying to have some thing like the OTT platform. And this makes it an exciting time for actors as the format allows them space to experiment. You can give more layers to the role and make it more meaty. It’s really a boom time, I hope it lasts,” says he.
The two seasons differ from each other in various aspects, especially on account of the introduction of Bhaisaab. Aamir says that from season 1, “You know that he is the one whom people look up to even though they haven’t seen or met him. So here all of that comes to life. You will get to see him in all his glory and how he overcomes the challenges that he faces. This season is more exciting, eventful, with lots of twists and turns. And the threads that were left hanging in season 1 get fleshed out in this one.”
(The series releases on December 6.)
