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From a doctor who was a very supportive friend to a helpless construction worker wronged by the law, Soham Majumdar has become a fan favourite. The actor had a chat with us on his latest role in Netflix's film Dhamaka.
Indian cinema has been producing some major content, sharing stories, and engaging their audiences. Along with these intriguing stories we also had the chance to witness some incredible talent pool making it to the big screen and value to the story and its characters. While the big league actors still hold a special place in our hearts, it is the new faces that are making us fall in love with movies all over again. Soham Majumdar is among these new talents who has become a crowd favorite. Hailing from Kolkata and with a strong theatre background, Soham became an instant hit among the audiences after his role in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Hindi remake of Arjun Reddy, Kabir Singh. After receiving all the love for his role as Shiva, the actor is back in news for his recent role in Netflix's movie Dhamaka.
Starring as Anand giving voice to a construction worker in his Ram Madhvani directed film with Kartik Aaryan in a lead role, Soham has managed to get people talking. He is basking in the glory of the movie's success as he continues to wait for more projects to work on. The actor plays Anand Mhata in the film, someone who finds himself taking the law into his own hands when he and his family are denied justice. From donning a Bihari dialect to letting out a powerful screaming leaving us goosebumps, Soham truly has his lasting mark on us at the end of the film. We talked with the actor to know about his experience of working for the Netflix film and dealing with all the love that has been coming his way.
Here's what Soham has to share:
What are your emotions? How do you feel right now?
“I am overwhelmed. I actually don’t know what to think other than being overwhelmed by all the messages that I keep coming in both while I did Kabir Singh as well as after Dhamaka. It’s just too overwhelming time for me because I need somebody to pinch me to feel that this is real. The kind of response is that my character is getting I’m really happy. I was like, kya hoga log relate kar payenge yaa nahi. Everybody loved my character. And also Kudo is to the makers and co-actors. Without them, nothing would have been possible. Without Ram sir, Amruta ma'am, Vikas sir, Punit sir the writer everybody who contributed so much in the making of the film and into my character would really help me.”
Tell us about your character, Anand. How did you end up with the role?
“Ram sir texted me right after Kabir Singh and we met each other and spoke about collaborating with each other on a project. And hope for and hopefully the time was right and with Abhimanyu, I auditioned for the role and seems like I was fit for the part. And post that I had a lot of my friends helping me with the dialect for the character because there was a particular accent that I had to develop for Anand. And they were also acting coaches and from the production side as well. The actor Vikas Kumar who played the role of Praveen Kamath Was also an acting coach in the process. The writer Puneeth had plenty of conversations with him because you know it is the light who puts the story down. So he also helps me get into the character. I don’t like to talk a lot about my process because it can be different for different people but, I feel like everything helped. Ram sir also has a very exciting way of working and we were so overwhelmed by the making process, ki I did not feel like asking ki kaisa ho raha hai sab. I could completely trust the process. I remember one day there was a scene in the film where I had to scream and maybe my voice strained a little. We were shooting in a bio-bubble and I went back to my room after the tech issue and I saw packets of the green tea kept there with the letter from Ram Sir. I did not say anything to Ram Sir ki mera awaaz strain hua hai yaa kuch. So these small things also encourage you to give your 200% to the character. So I think it’s always the makers, the captain of the ship was so considerate and collaborative that you feel like giving your 200% for the film.”
Do you have a preference when it comes to theatre different from films? Can you also talk about your theatre experience?
“There is nothing called preference when it comes to acting I just prefer to act. I studied engineering and I could not really pursue that so I preferred acting over that. For sure. So let me just put it that way, whether it is on stage or in front of the camera I love playing stories, I love playing characters. Because as a person I am very limited. So I explore and choose characters that I play.
And talking about my theatre days, I started off in 2011. Come to Bombay to do a show and when I stepped into Prithvi theatre I knew that I couldn’t do anything else. I didn’t know if I will become a film actor or anything of that sort. But I knew that this is what my life is about, and this is what God had put me on this planet for. And I will continue to do it however little way it might be. I mean I am glad it turned out well because of the way Kabir Singh is also how Dhamaka happened. And every time I feel like that kid in the candy store where people are offering me candy than me choosing the candy.”
What are your thoughts on implementing censorships on OTT platforms and how they contribute to the entertainment industry?
“Honestly I feel that censorship in general of the content that you watch, stories that you tend should be marked according to a particular age bracket. Whether it’s an adult-rated film, for example, Kabir Singh got censorship for being an A-rated film. And that is why 18+ audiences were allowed for the film. I think that if you do have a system in place or a technology in place which already exists in place. If you see there are profiles specifically for children on Netflix. So if you do have that system in place I think if somebody wants to watch something should not be or cannot be hindered to watch it. It’s like eating food if I want to eat something I shouldn’t be told that I cannot or if I want to wear something I shouldn’t be told what or what not to wear. Let’s have a conversation than going to war. I think we can have more conversation which can lead to something healthy than form an opinion that is not healthy. If you feel that it’s absolutely necessary to make certain changes to a particular film or a show, let’s take that step collectively and point out what is not right and why you think it’s not right. Let’s not just barge on to it like oh my God, let’s change it, let’s ban it. So that’s my opinion that we have to all collectively feel that.
Talking about content evolution we know that system keeps on changing. Earlier we had single screens, then it became multiscreen and now we have phones and tablets. Of course, we cannot take away the magic of cinema halls. Talk but definitely, these platforms provide for you to sit at home and enjoy a good movie or a show. So that is definitely giving back power to the audience. And I think that audience playing God is the best thing that can be.”
As an actor do you follow other movie industries in our country?
“I would love to do a South Indian film. If I put the effort to learn the language I would love to work in one of those films. I am already a part of Bengali and Hindi films by gods grace so why not explore and be part of other languages as well. I generally feel that language should not be about you anymore, but having said that I have to say that the representation of characters does matter to me. even if I say I am playing a Bengali and Hindi film I don’t want that character to be stereotyped. I feel representation is important because we know Hindi films are very popular and widespread, the thought process of human beings towards a particular state or culture develops from what you see. I have seen that seems to have that power. So I would like to want the characters to be represented well.”
Apart from your movie Dhamaka releasing on Netflix, do you recall any news that created Dhamaka in you life recently that you would like to share with us?
“ I mean is in this film and the response to the film Dhamaka in itself? How do I say this, this life is a blessing I know I am repeating myself but it feels like in 2018 living in Calcutta I never thought that I would be in this stage becoming part of such stories. That’s how life changes and that is the only Dhamaka that I can talk about. And also getting the opportunity to meet new makers and tell new stories and become part of them.”
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