MUMBAI: Pawan Malhotra is a veteran actor who has worked for more than 30 years in the film industry. He has been a part of major movies like Don, Jab We Met, Bang Bang, among a few, and dabbled in playing the negative role as well.
As a lead actor, he appeared in Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Bagh Bahadur and Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro by Saeed Akhtar Mirza, both released in 1989. Irfan Khan, the coldblooded mafia don in Aithe (2003), and Tiger Memon in Black Friday (2004) are two of his most famous roles. In 2005, he acted in the Telugu movie Anukokunda Oka Roju as a Tantrik.
Pawan Malhotra has been owning the OTT space with his show like Tabbar, Eclipse and now he is all set to play the antagonist in the power-packed MX Player series ‘Shiksha Mandal’ that revolves around the medical exam scam in India.
The series also stars Gauahar Khan and Gulshan Devaiah in leading roles.
TellyChakkar got in touch with the actor to talk about his process of choosing a role.
How do you choose a role when you hear a script? What are the essential things that make or break the decision for you?
Actually, a lot of things matter when you make that decision of course, the role, the character, and the plot do matter but those are not the only things. I don’t have a checklist, I can’t pinpoint it to one thing. It is very instinctive. I have done a lot of roles in these years while some have been like, Baag Bahadur or Black Friday, I have also done commercial films like Don, Judwa 2, and more. Choosing a certain role depends and it is usually instinctive that even I can’t single out.
Do you feel any sort of pressure before a project releases? Do you feel nervous?
I have always worked because I wanted people to see it. Anybody who is an artist wants to be appreciated and wants to feel validated. I want 200 people, actually 200 crore people to watch my work. When I used to do TV and I would be returning home from a shoot, and if I saw people in the market, I would get this urge to tell them that my show starts at 9 PM and that they should go and watch it. The fact that we are sitting and chatting about it, I definitely want people to watch it. I don’t get nervous. At the time of release, all I want to tell people is about the process of it and that something has been made. I definitely believe that you should work very honestly during the process and the outcome depends on the audience. If the audience like the story, it will work.
What would you say is the X-factor about your character in Shiksha Mandal?
I wanted to be connected to be a part of a subject like this. My character has a lot of complexities and a lot of layers that I thought would be interesting to play. First is what journey the character goes through amidst the story setting. The personal backstories, why they do, what they do, and build a very strong foundation for the character. How the layers unfold over time as the stories progress is what I thought was the most interesting thing about this role.
Shiksha Mandal also stars Gauahar Khan and Gulshan Devaiah. Gulshan, who is known for playing notable roles in Shaitan, Hate Story, and Hunterrr, is playing a young hard-working man, who is a teacher and runs a coaching institute. On the other hand, veteran actor Pawan Raj Malhotra is playing an antagonist in the series, while Gauahar plays a cop who investigates the scam.
Are you excited to watch the show? Let us know in the comments below!
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