NEW DELHI
Actor Swapnil Joshi recently joined NewsX for a candid chat as part of NewsX India A-List. In the exclusive conversation with NewsX, the actor opened up about his latest project ‘Samantar 2’, journey till now, key lessons amid the pandemic and much more. Read excerpts:
Speaking about the release of ‘Samantar 2’, the experience of shooting for the series and what made him pick this project as his OTT debut, Swapnil said, “‘Samantar 2’ has done great for all of us. It is a very overwhelming feeling when your season 2 does better than season 1. More often than not, the track record says that season 2 don’t work as well as season 1. I think ‘Samantar 2’ doing better than ‘Samantar’ 1 is like a big relief for all of us. It was a calculated risk. I was wanting to do web, it was calling out to me for the last four to five years. I was doing a decent job in Marathi films and TV, so I was kind of all over the place. I was holding onto myself before getting onto the web because I genuinely thought that if I end up doing the same thing I do in Marathi films on the web, then why would the web audience want to consume my work? They are already getting to see that in films and TV. I wanted to get into the web space with a subject that does justice to that space. I think ‘Samantar’ was like a blessing. It ticked all the boxes for me to get onto the webspace with the right role, the right positioning and a platform like MX Player. As I said, it was a calculated risk. Now that it has gone well, it can be said that it was worth the wait.”
Talking about his journey and favourite project till now, the actor expressed, “The role of Shree Krishna is and will always be my most cherished role because it was one role that gave me recognition throughout the world. I always say it jokingly that I’d take this role to my last day and beyond. They will always know me as Shree Krishna deep down in their hearts and I absolutely love that. I think that’s a compliment. Having been around for almost three decades now, I think the journey has been very enriching and extremely satisfying. I have earned some, I have learned some but it has been an absolutely fascinating journey. I have met some amazing people on the way, some amazing characters along the way. I think an actor is very blessed because rarely do you get to play so many things in one life. At the drop of a hat, I can be a police officer, lawyer, doctor, a walked out guy. I can be whatever, do whatever I want to do, with that script of mine. I think actors are a very blessed breed, so the journey has been fascinating.”
When asked how he coped with the pandemic and what his key lessons were during this phase, the actor responded, “The one lesson that we have all learnt, at least individually for me, is that you need to spend time with yourself and your loved ones. Nothing—your money, positioning, power, contacts, car, is going to matter at the end of the day. What is going to matter is how well you loved yourself and loved ones; how well and healthy you lived. That has been a personal lesson for me in the last year and a half. The whole rat race is going somewhere, getting somewhere and doing something, very rarely do you sit, stand and pause and take note of your own self. Pause and say, ‘Wow, you were good today’, or ‘You look good today’. The pandemic has taught all of us to spend some time with ourselves every day and love ourselves.”
“I have been very blessed work-wise. There was a re-telecast of ‘Ramayan’ at the beginning of the lockdown. ‘Uttar-Ramayan’ happened in which I played Kush. There was also a re-telecast of ‘Shree Krishna’. ‘Samantar’ 1 happened at the beginning of the lockdown and then ‘Samantar 2’ happened just recently. Work-wise, it has been a great one and a half years. The past two years have been splendid on the work front. I’d be lying if I said work was not good and I am blessed to be able to say that. Personally, it was a phase of self-enlightenment,” he added.