Vikrant Massey and Harleen Sethi tell Rishabh Arora that season 2 of Broken But Beautiful will see a complete switch in their characters
The real barometre to figure out whether a serial has found favour with the audience is whether it makes a reappearence in another season or not. Broken But Beautiful on ALT Balaji and Zee5 has made the cut and is out with season 2.
Actor Vikrant Massey and Harleen Sethi reprise their roles as Veer and Sameera respectively. In this season, after her heartbreak, Sameera would now be seen as a bold women says Harleen. “She has rebuilt herself and erected walls around her heart. She is always on her guard. Sameera wants to protect herself and does not want to invest herself emotionally as much as she did in her previous relationship which hurt her. It took a long time for her to come out of that hurt. She is doing everything that a person would do after h/she has genuinely healed from a break-up. She takes care of herself and enjoys her work. She has coloured her hair and dresses up better,” adds Harleen. The story explores whether she has healed genuinely or if there are still some cracks left.
It is not too long back that Harleen got into acting and she says, her journey so far has been beautiful. She got her first break in an advertisement because she could do ballet. The second ad brought her in the limelight and people started noticing her. There was no looking back as she did around 60-70 ads in a span of two to two-and-a-half years. But though she was being appreciated, Harleen realised that people who work in advertisements are not perceived as actors. She then started hosting a show for a lifestyle channel which put her on fast track to fame. She says, “I never planned to be in front of the camera. Things just fell in place. I am very comfortable being an artiste. I just genuinely love being in the moment whether it is as an actor or a dancer. It does not matter.”
Vikrant, her co-star in the show has a take on modern relationships, one of which the show depicts. He feels, “We have lost patience and that holds true for me too in real life.”
Having played several different characters in films, TV and web series, he is happy to push the envelope further and says, “I am really delighted that I got a chance to explore different facets of this character.” In the first season, Veer is seen lost in his imagination after the death of his wife but in this season, the character is poles apart and the audience will notice a complete turnaround in both the characters of Veer and Sameera. “It might seem that they have swapped characters,” he says.
It may appear difficult working in different mediums of film, TV and web series as an actor but Vikrant does not seem to feel that pressure. He says, “I really do not think a lot changes for an actor as the method remains the same. You still prepare days in advance and then, for your shot, in the van. I do not see any change in your output either because you have to give the best irrespective of the medium. Every role, ad, TV series and film has given me the opportunity to reach out to the audience with a particular story and that has helped me to grow as an actor.”
Talking of web series naturally brings to the fore the issue of explicit content and violence that has now become a way to garner eyeballs and generate publicity around a show. What does Vikrant feel is the way forward? He says, “Definitely there should be self-censorship by the directors rather than censorship. One has to realise responsibility. We are in a transitional phase and should learn from what has happened in the last two to three years to move forward. I am sure we will make mistakes in the coming two-three years too. We should learn from these too. It is a cycle but definitely, there should not be an outsider who asks us to censor content as people themselves are capable of understanding what to watch and what to avoid.”
There is always a positive side to everything, he says, and web content is filling in the gap between different countries and making global content accessible. Vikrant says, “Online content and the internet reduced the gap between all the countries in the world. The consumption of entertainment is seamless so that people in Brazil are watching the same thing as Indians or anyone from any other country. We are reaching out to a far more bigger audience and are not just catering to one community or one region as we are catering to the global community. This gives an opportunity for a creative artiste like me to explore different possibilities and expand my horizons. This is very important in an ever-changing world in order to upgrade and remain relevant”.
Vikrant has been making news for another reason as well, for starring opposite Deepika Padukone in Chhapaak. “It was incredible and still seems surreal. The release is just a few days away, so I am really looking forward to it,” says he.
Photo: Pankaj Kumar