Rajeev Khandelwal is one actor who is known to play varied roles and all of them with equal ease. However, in a recent interview with Mumbai Live, the actor revealed that he indeed wanted to be an action hero. Talking about his upcoming series Naxalbari on ZEE5, Rajeev said, "Not too many people will know that but I really enjoy action. I do all my stunts myself. I wanted to be an action hero and I like action as I am a very outdoor, physically active person".
What's more, Rajeev also mentioned that the action director on the series was someone that he had already worked with during the shoot of Bejoy Nambiar's Shaitan. "The action director here in Naxalbari, Eijaz bhai had done action for the movie Shaitan also. We now know each other for some years now. So it was fun doing the action sequences with him."
Talking more about Naxalbari, Rajeev shares that what attracted him to the show was the script as it was very in-depth and had a detailed analysis of the Naxal world. "I was quite taken aback when I was reading it. However, what is currently been presented is not the same script as the creatives at ZEE5 decided to simplify it as they feel that it will work better with their audience. So I would like to give the entire credit of the series to the team at ZEE5," says Rajeev.
He further adds that pandemic was another reason why the script had to be tweaked since executing something as challenging and ambitious during the COVID times was not feasible.
Sharing anecdotes of shooting during the coronavirus pandemic, Rajeev shares that since he was in Goa during the lockdown, the team decided to shoot there. The cases in Goa at that point were not as many as in Mumbai and also the state had given the go-ahead to commence shooting. Hence, there were changes in the cast as well, since the team decided to cast people who were already in Goa.
He further quips, "Shooting during COVID-19 times was not easy for anyone. There was COVID and deep monsoon. The basic facilities were very limited. Keeping the hygiene conditions in mind, the food would come from very far. The number of people on the set had to be limited and there were a lot of protocols that had to be adhered to. A humongous effort has gone from everyone end in making the series and I just hope the audience appreciates the efforts that have gone in".
Apart from Rajeev Khandelwal Naxalbari stars Tina Datta, Sreejita De, Satyadeep Mishra, Shakti Anand and Aamir Ali. The show is directed by Partho Mitra and produced by GSEAMS (Arjun & Kartik). ‘NAXALBARI’ is slated to premiere on 28th November, exclusively on ZEE5.
The nine-episode action-packed series is a fictional account of the protagonist’s fightback against a red uprising. It will also subtly underline the socio-political involvement that cause the upsetting of the Naxalites.
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