Amit Dolawat talks of his 'enriching experience' of playing a eunuch for Zee TV's Fear Files

Zee TV’s Fear Files – Darr Ki Sacchi Tasvir, produced by Esselvision Productions will air a thrilling and spine-chilling story wherein the protagonist will be possessed by a eunuch’s soul. The man who will actually be a sophisticated NRI who has come down with his wife (played by Neha Saxena) to sell-off his ancestral property will all of a sudden behave strangely as he is hit by a eunuch’s curse. And to play this challenging and powerful character of the person possessed by a eunuch, the makers chose the talented actor Amit Dolawat. And according to Amit, this is one role in his entire career that gave him sleepless nights. Talking about the role in the episodic story of Zee TV’s Fear Files, Amit told Tellychakkar.com, “Fear Files usually casts me for challenging roles. The last time I was part of it, I played a triple role wherein I depicted P.C. Sorcar’s life. And now, when I got called for this particular role, I was told by the creative Shadaan Pervez that I was immediately hand-picked to play the role and they did not even look for other options. To tell you honestly, I was initially apprehensive to take it up as this role needed one to get out of the comfort zone. The fear I had was that one can very easily turn out to be a comedian while doing such roles. If things went wrong, there was always a possibility of the actor turning out to be a laughing stock. But then, I took it up as my next challenge. But trust me, I was awake the whole night, prior to starting my shoot. I had no time on hand, and just went through few videos to see how these eunuchs (kinnars) talk and dance.” Amit went on to tell us that he even had a real-life experience of meeting a eunuch just before he landed up with this role. “Well, this might just be a coincidence, but as I was waiting at a traffic signal one day, I encountered a eunuch and immediately noticed that these people have the knack of looking into one’s eyes and reveal what’s in store for them. The eunuch who I saw indicated to me that I will get something big in few days time. And soon after this incident, I bagged this role where in had to play a eunuch.” The most interesting aspect of this shoot for Amit was that he had to shoot along with real eunuchs. Explaining about this moment, the actor went on to say, “Yes, this was indeed a nice experience. I had to dance for a particular scene wherein other eunuchs had to play dholak and clap. The moment I did my first scene with them, I received claps from everyone in the unit. And this process continued, as I got appreciated for every scene I did later on. And believe me, I have just dubbed for the episode and have seen it too – the episode has come out very well and it is really scary.” So how did Amit manage to handle the pressure and put in equal energy to all his scenes? “Aah, this role was indeed physically taxing. And while dancing in a scene, I even puked and almost fainted. This was the scene wherein my wife for the first time, gets to know that I am possessed by a eunuch. It was a 2-3 minutes dance in anger which was shot in torch light. And post the scene, I needed half an hour or so to get back to my senses. The entire team was very supportive, and the Director Vinod Manik Rao told me that at times, magic happens when we get into our characters intensely. On the whole, I am satisfied as an actor on the manner in which this performance shaped up for me.” Talking about his interaction with the kinnars, Amit told us, “I had a heart-to-heart talk with the eunuchs assembled for the shoot. I even told them that I had no intention to hurt them by my performance. And I told them to immediately correct me between shots if I went wrong.” The actor also had the opportunity to learn Telugu from the Kinnars. On this, he revealed, “The kinnar I played was actually from Andhra Pradesh, and this meant that I had to use the language in my talk. So I made it a point to talk to Parveen (the eunuch who shot with Amit) and get some language help from him, and use it to my advantage while shooting.” On the whole, Amit felt that the ‘chudi effect’ that he gave to his character was stunning. “Well, I wanted to wear these chudis (bangles) for my role, and even irritated few on the set when I went to shop for them. The idea was to make the chudis an important part of the story. I have not used many gestures that eunuchs usually have, like that of clapping. However, I have used my chudis and ghungroos more to give this unusual feel.” Speaking about ghungroos, Amit went on to narrate a funny moment that happened on the first day of shoot. “Aah, don’t even remind me of that. After the first day of shoot, I was so drained that I wanted to immediately get –off my makeup and drive home for a bath and relaxation. I actually packed all my accessories, kept them in my room and went home, only to get a call from my unit member who asked me where I had kept my ghungroo. I then realized that I had in fact driven home with the ghungroo still on my leg (smiles). The entire unit got to know of this incident and had a good laugh.” The most humbling experience for Amit post the shoot of this story was that he immediately got appreciated by the channel. “I received a message that I had put in a great work from the channel after the footage reached them. On the last day of shoot, I received hugs from all present. Overall, I would say that I was hesitant in getting into this, but today I have come out of it as a much better performer. I have got to know a lot about emotions and human beings.” Last but not the least, Amit who is a trained dancer (trained under Sandip Soparkar for four years, and is presently being trained for Salsa under Vineet Bangera, and had a training for Jazz for three years under Dheeraj Bakshi) did not require a choreographer to perform for this episode. “I had an option of taking the choreographer’s steps. But I decided to give it a bit of spontaneity. And whatever I have danced on is spontaneous. I have done a taandav of a different zone, keeping in mind that the performance should not look girlish, gayish or even manly. And above all, the character should look possessed.” Amit who is awaiting the release of his Marathi movie Trikut feels that he is game for a much bigger challenge on TV on a daily basis. “I am waiting for somebody who has the vision to tap my potential as an actor to offer me a challenging role in the near future.” This particular episode of Fear Files will be aired on Zee TV tomorrow, 19 October 2013.