Akshay’s Kesari fauj

Manpriya Singh

Actor Vansh Bharadwaj hopes Kesari turns out to be just the game-changer he has been yearning for since long. He has every reason to. Having made a mark in relatively small but at the same time significant roles in films like Heaven on Earth, Punjab 1984, Udta Punjab and lately Commando 2, the actor is all set to essay the role of a Sikh soldier in the Akshay Kumar-starrer on the battle of Saragarhi.

Talk of getting into the skin of the character and the actor takes things to a different level. “I play Lance Naik Chanda Singh and he is one of the few three to four men who are the closest to Havaldar Ishar Singh, played by Akshay Kumar.” 

Vansh adds, “Since it’s the character of a Sikh soldier, I knew I had to grow a beard but I was never up for a fake one. I was actually in that look for a year-and-a-half.”

Such is Bollywood 

While he did not lose any role to star kids, Bollywood, he agrees, is a tough place to be in. “You can say the business perspective of it all takes over anything else. There have been times I have signed big banners, bigger roles and yet things did not go ahead suddenly because they’d rather replace characters and artistes with things that make more business sense. People who can push the movie further, promote it in different ways,” he says of things that go with the turf called Bollywood.

“I’m still enjoying my journey. I’m here for the sheer craft called acting and that is precisely the reason I’m still connected to theatre because that creates your hunger for the craft.”

All too grateful to director Anurag Singh for handing over the role to him, he nevertheless had to go in for a look test. “I had worked with him in Punjab 1984 and he is like family. In fact, the first of the few homemade meals I had after landing in Mumbai was at his place.”

On Akshay Kumar 

“I still remember seeing Akshay in his debut film Saugandh, in which he makes an entry with a hand-stand.” Needless to say being a ’90s kid, Vansh also devoured all the Khiladi films. 

Getting to share screen space was like a learning lesson in itself, with a star without starry airs. Vansh nods: “Unlike a lot of stars, he does not vanish into his vanity van. He likes to speak in Punjabi on the sets and he was friendly to everyone around. He’d show us videos on his phones.”

Unbelievable as it may sound, once he played cricket with the team on the sets from 1.30 in the morning till 7 am.

Suvinder Vikky soldiers on 

As Akshay Kumar says in his Instagram post, Kesari is an unbelievably true untold story; an unbelievable journey of 21 Sikhs; a missing chapter of history that is coming to the big screens March 21. According to Suvinder Vikky, an equally unbelievable and wonderful was the experience of getting selected for the role of Naik Lal Singh.

He met director Anurag Singh during a dubbing session. This resulted in a role in his Punjabi movie Super Singh, which eventually led to his casting in Kesari. Though Suvinder is already an acclaimed actor with films like Udta Punjab and Shahid under his belt, especially noticeable is his Cannes Film Festival fame and national award winning Punjabi movie Chauthi Koot. But Suvinder feels Kesari is a class apart because it is not only a movie for him, but a lifetime experience. “From day one,” he stresses.

Whether it was the pre-shoot workshop for physical fitness and arms training, or the hectic “but extremely satisfying” 60-day shoot schedule in Maharashtra.

Playing a character with 14 metres of heavy turban, a year-long growth of beard and hair and such heavy ammunition was a miracle in itself. He even visited the native place of Naik Lal Singh in Tarn Taran and was touched by the fact that there is a gurdwara in his name, acknowledging Naik Lal Singh’s bravery.