Ashish Vidyarthi recently received rave reviews for his portrayal of the NSA Chief in ‘Ranneeti: Balakot and Beyond’, which premiered on JioCinema on April 25, The series revolves around the events following the Pulwama attacks as India gears up to settle scores with Pakistan. In an exclusive interview with ‘The Daily Guardian’, Vidyarthi said that he was drawn towards the show’s emphasis on finer details.
“Ranneeti came to me during the fag end of the Covid lockdown and crisis,. The role was quite interesting and I loved the overall detailing,” said the veteran actor.
Vidyarthi‘s character has several intense scenes in the series. Moreover, he is someone who has a unique perspective on burning issues. The actor said that he enjoyed playing a ‘thinker’ in ‘Ranneeti: Balakot and Beyond’.
“I play a thinker in the series. You don’t see him or personally meet him. However, you need to create the character based on his thought process,” said Vidyarthi.
Ranneeti: Balakot and Beyond features Jimmy Sheirgill in the lead and continues his association with the OTT space. Vidyarthi enjoyed working with the Collar Bomb actor, which made the overall experience all the more
“Jimmy is a wonderful person and I really enjoyed working with him,” added the actor.
‘Ranneeti: Balakot and Beyond’ continues Vidyarthi’s association with OTT. The actor previously impressed fans with his performance in ‘Sunflower’. The ‘Dhil’l star feels that there are no major differences between working in films and web series.
“For actors, there is no difference. You have to deliver what the director wants in both cases. That said, working on a web series is like working on multiple films,” said Vidyarthi.
The growth of OTT platforms has eliminated the language barrier and compelled storytellers to create pan-India content. Vidyarthi, who has worked in multiple languages, feels that this is a wonderful phenomenon.
“”Pan-India is a wonderful concept and an opportunity to recognise all actors as Indian artistes,” he said.
Vidyarthi, meanwhile is going through a busy phase on the work front. He has been receiving critical acclaim for ‘Sit Down Ashish’, his standup comedy special. His 2004 Tamil film ‘Ghilli’ also re-released in theatres recently and opened to a thunderous response at the box office. The ‘Okkadu’ remake features Thalapathy Vijay and Trisha in the lead,
Coming back to ‘Ranneeti: Balakot and Beyond,’ all nine episodes of the series are currently available to stream on JioCinema.