Indian actor Barun Sobti, who returns to the small screen with the third season of Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon? (IPKKND) on July 3, weighs in on the casting controversy surrounding his new show.
A recap: While Sobti returns as the male lead in the third season as the brooding hero, his coy co-star from the previous two seasons, Sanaya Irani, with whom he shared incredible chemistry has been replaced. Stepping in as his co-star for the new instalment is Shivani Tomar.
The show creator’s decision has left IPKKND fans in shock and they have collectively resisted the change and communicated their displeasure by slamming the casting choice on social media. But Sobti prefers to keep things pragmatic.
“My take is that every character requires a different character to be cast. I wasn’t cast because I was popular, I was cast because I fit the role,” said Sobti in an interview with Gulf News tabloid!.
“People don’t understand the need for casting in this industry. People keep [assuming] that you can package a show — any project — by putting in two actors, two songs and we are done. That is not how casting is done though,” he added.
Plus, it’s an entirely new story and having a set of new faces shouldn’t come as a shocker.
Set in Allahabad, the actor claims that the third season, in which he plays the dark Advay Singh Raizada, has no relation to the previous season’s storyline. His new instalment is a revenge drama with a generous dose of “thrills and romantic twists”.
Sobti plays a young man who is avenging the death of his parents. Chandini, played by Tomar, is a paragon of virtue and is a perfect antidote to his stormy nature. She shows him that love can triumph over evil and that there’s good in the world to appreciate.
“He’s an anti-hero…he endures a lot in his life and that has made him not care about what the society thinks about him,” said Sobti.
He’s de-sensitised to society to such an extent that he does things that a normal man hesitate from doing. But that’s where Sobti the actor steps in. He’s one of the few talents on the small screen who has the power to make his viewers empathetic towards his largely selfish personality.
In the first two seasons, his dark, obnoxious deeds were condoned by his fans because he had the power to normalise his questionable actions.
Whether it’s testing the love of his partner repeatedly or whether it was to resort to unkind words to manipulate others around him, Sobti came out with flying colours. He is like your archetypal fictional romantic hero found in the pages of those Mills & Boons novels, where the protagonist broods, smirks and is tantalisingly cynical.
“When I was told about the character: I though it’s such a dark character that why would anyone like him? So one of my producers told me that this casting is going to be very important because the actor that we cast should make the audience compelled enough to believe that they would do the same thing if they were in my place,” said Sobti.
He even rationalises that painting someone as a hero or a anti-hero was a matter of perspective.
“If two countries are at war — then the soldier of a particular country who kills the enemy might be the hero in his native land, but for the slain soldier’s country that guy who killed their man would always remain a villain,” explained Sobti.
While normalising his grey character was on top of his list, his creative relief came from the knowledge that the season 3 is a finite series. After all, nothing stinks as much as a stretched-out TV series, a charge that majority of the hit TV serials in Hindi are being blamed for.
“If a writer is good at what he does, it’s not easy to do a good job every day … To invent something new is almost an impossible task. So it comes as a creative relief that this is a finite number of episodes. Limited series ensure that we maintain the quality of the writing on the sets.”
Don’t Miss It!
Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon?, which premieres July 3, will be shown on Star Plus from Monday to Thursday at 8pm.
Did you know?
In 2013, Barun Sobti was titled the Sexiest Asian Man by UK magazine Eastern Eye
Barun’s Bollywood run
Several fan theories bloomed after Barun Sobti quit Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon? at the peak of its television ratings. While some fans said it was for health reasons, others assumed there was sparring with show producer Gul Khan. A few even brought up Sanaya Irani’s name but this one was vehemently refuted by the two lead stars of the show. After a hiatus, Sobti soon tried his luck in the big bad world of Bollywood, which, needless to say, wasn’t too kind. Here’s a recap of his reel-life innings.
Main Aur Mr Right (2014)
After a wee bit of delay, this romantic comedy, featuring Sobti and Shenaz Treasurywala, finally saw the light in 2014. The limited release of the film didn’t see it fare well at the box office.
Satra Ko Shaadi Hai (2014)
Another one of those projects that sounds promising at the scripting stage but doesn’t get to see the light of day. In a media interview earlier this year, Sobti was quoted as saying that he had no clue what the status of the film was or whether it would ever be released.
Tu Hai Mera Sunday (2016)
Sobti’s football-themed movie Tu Hai Mera Sunday, which released as You Are My Sunday in English, has been directed by Milind Dhaimade. Despite not hitting mainstream as yet (although, it is scheduled for release this year), the film has done the rounds on the film festival circuit and opened to good reviews. —Bindu Rai, Deputy tabloid! Editor
