You may remember him as Aishwarya Rai’s love interest in ‘Josh’ (2000) or as Preity Zinta’s best friend in ‘Kya Kehna’ (2000). In fact, the late 90s was the time for chocolate boy Chandrachur Singh to shine as he was working with some well-known names.
Unfortunately, he had to take a backseat due to personal reasons and had to be away from the limelight until recently. The actor is making his comeback with ‘Aarya’, a Disney+ Hotstar Special, along with Sushmita Sen.
Things have definitely changed in the industry since he last worked and the pandemic has changed things even more. Talking to Showtime, he says, “It’s great to be back and work on a script like this. I didn’t expect it to release the film so soon because of the lockdown. But the team has made it work and finished the post-production from home, brought out the trailer and now the movie.”
In the crime drama ‘Aarya’, Chandrachur plays Sushmita’s character’s husband who gets caught up in an illegal drug ring.
Working with Sushmita was easy, he says, as it’s also her comeback series.
“It was a lot of learning and unlearning for both of us. The whole thing was like a new birth of sorts. Working with her was a breeze because we’ve known each other for many years now. She’s a great artiste and a wonderful human being.”
Acting workshops before shooting was a learning experience for Chandrachur. He says, “The creative team was very exciting to work with. We had workshops 10 days before the day of shoot and that helped tremendously to get into the groove and get into the character. There was enough room for improvisation and there was a lot of natural acting which made it interesting.”
“It was fascinating to work with very good artistes, including the three children on set. I enjoyed that some emotional scenes were done so naturally that we didn’t need glycerine to show tears. It was what came from the heart that you get to see it on screen,” he adds.
When asked how his years away from the industry helped him prepare for the OTT release, he says, “I think life has been a great teacher. And I think the more you live, the more you learn. Subconsciously, that will creep into your performance because the quality of life that you’ve been through eventually translates into your performance.”
Chandrachur also very recently joined social media. “I made my first post on Instagram the other day,” he laughs. “There’s definitely a pressure to be more social media-savvy but it’s the new route that has to be taken. Earlier, I would have preferred to just read a book but now the social media account is your business and you need to stay active there. Having said that, I know that I have a social responsibility of being a public figure and I’ll have to use it carefully.”
While he waits to see how the audience has responded to his new series, the actor is keen on working with new directors, actors and scriptwriters. He says, “I am open to trying any roles as long as I’m happy doing it. I see that there’s a lot of scope for content on OTT platforms. I want to act again without being typecast.”