Overwhelmed with the response on debut: Manish Raisinghan

We have often seen Bollywood movies depicting romance, comedy, action, drama and a happy ending. However, making entertaining films about social taboos is a different ball game. Making a breakthrough in showbiz, television's popular actor Manish Raisinghan is set to star in his maiden film 'Kahani Rubberband Ki'. In an exclusive conversation with Ashish Tiwari of First India, he shared about his movie, the real Manish and more. Speaking on the love he is receiving he shared, “I am in absolute gratitude for the sparkling debut, kind of reviews from almost all the reviewers and critics. We worked hard to get that look for Aakash the "chomu" character, who was supposed to be this big body small brain loser guy who emerges as a winner by the end of the film. It was great high to see people laughing and clapping to your performance in theatres” Sharing what made him say yes to the movie he stated, “So while we were looking for the good scripts for my film, we came across quite a few good ones. My Teacher and Guide Swapna Waghmare Joshi heard them all and asked me if I wanted to do the same slow-motion heroic entries and the typical hero roles or open my innings as an "actor" portraying exactly who I am not and I have never attempted. So Aakash was that character. Absolute nonheroic hero, rather a loser with an absolute "fatichar" luck who keeps getting slapped around by everyone including luck. Also, there was a lot of physical transformation, instead of showing my abs I had to put on weight. Instead of a good-looking man I had to straighten my hair flat to look the part and most important learn UP accent and get the coming timing right simultaneously. So that thrilled me. The movie is on an issue we are all facing and today we live in an era where these issuebased films have taken centerstage”

He added, “And with the above two tickboxes checked I wanted to know the script because if we are talking about this script which is talking about a taboo which is gonna make people uncomfortable, the script has to be so clean that people rather get eased out wid this taboo so we work upon it.” On talking about his upcoming project he shared,” God is Kind and so are the Producers. Not just an actor but I have two projects as a writer/creator as well. So absolutely looking forward to learning and playing this game of storytelling in front and behind the camera both” Asking who is the real Manish Raisinghan he shared, “Haha play is my favourite word. And I live by it. Let it be my workplace or my personal space, problems come and go. We always have a choice to make our life a battlefield and fight, or the second option is to sit back relax and play with love and compassion. Even in lockdown, I was working sixteen hours a day, if I make it to a battlefield I will ear out and not be able to perform, so this whole 'play' keeps my journey of life fun and games for me and the people around me, so we never get tired and we all play.” Speaking on how he handles the challenges of his roles he shared, “Indeed it is challenging, it's like living a new life every time and it is a brand new study a person inside out. That's what makes me a traveller, I am a bad tourist but an awesome traveller, I love to go to places and love there, experience life with the locals, live in hostels, meet other travellers and listen to their journeys. I think that's what is me as an actor "shopping for life" as they say. The Same applies to my chosen characters. I see how much I will get to 'play' and how much more I get to 'live and learn' through these characters.”