In conversation with Lavanya Bhardwaj

Finally, he will break his silence and in a way no one would have ever imagined. Well, we are talking about the calm and composed Sahadev (Lavanya Bhardwaj) in Star Plus’ magnum opus show Mahabharat (Swastik Productions). Not many know that he will be the man who will kill the ultimate evil Shakuni (Praneet Bhatt) and with the actors recently shooting for the promo we decided to speak to Lavanya and get more details on the same and much more. He avers, “Sahadev is this anti-action man who has never really shown his aggressiveness to the world. But like a volcano bursts after boiling inside for years, Sahadev too would finally let his anger takeover him and he will get into a war of words and then action in the war sequences soon.” The character is always the subtle one so how difficult it is for him to portray it? “Well, it’s extremely difficult for I have to show all his emotions only through expressions as not many words are spoken by Sahadev. Also I have to be alert as the reactions are marked by viewers and it has to be up to the mark of my character. To portray the frustrations is definitely a hard task,” admits the dedicated actor. Lavanya, interestingly played the young Sahadev in 9X’s Mahabharat, followed by Humari Devrani (HD) and Nahush’s character in Mahadev before bagging this show. “I think the character of Sahadev has some divine connection with me that I got to do it twice. Also having played an NRI in HD, this was a completely different school and I got to learn a lot. The set is actually a workshop where we get to learn every day,” he shares. The young guy goes on, “It is a hectic schedule and right now in the heat, it is completely unbearable but seeing our characters transform on screen takes away all the pain. Staying away from family in the palatial sets, I sometimes feel that I am not from this century (laughs), but then it helps us stay focused. Also having bonded so well, our chemistry comes off really well.” So which has been the most difficult scene, we asked this Meerut boy? “The scene where each of the brothers were being pawned and as soon as Nakul (Vin Rana) was put on the stage, real tears started rolling put of our eyes for we could feel the emotions of the brothers who were to be left all weakened,” says the nostalgic actor. Sahadev’s character is known for his intuitive nature and thus we asked the actor has he ever felt such intuition in real life? Thinking hard, he quips, “Yes, I always get to know when I am going to fall from the horse I am riding (laughs). On a serious note, every human being has intuitions when things are about to go wrong with them and so is the case with me too.” Way to go Lavanya!