The breakout star of Amazon Prime Video’s new series ‘Farzi’ (2023), actor Bhuvan Arora spoke to Sneha Menon Desai about the nine long years he had to wait to get his due, where his priorities lie, personally and professionally and sharing screen space with stars like Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi.
Arora shared that when he first read the script for his part in the show, he wasn’t convinced to do the role of Firoz. He recalled how casting director Mukesh Chhabra chased him, leading to the show’s makers, Raj and DK calling him up to meet him. When they met, he was clear that he wanted to be a part of a Raj and DK show, but he didn’t want to be wasted. “It’s the parallel lead of the show”, they said. To which, Arora’s first reaction was to “jump off the roof of the building” but he pretended to play it cool in front of them.
Speaking of his crackling chemistry with Shahid Kapoor in ‘Farzi’, Bhuvan Arora shared that Shahid is now an elder brother figure to him. On the first day on set, this is what Bhuvan said to Shahid, “Will you think of me as Ishaan (actor and Shahid Kapoor’s half brother)?” He requested for this so that they could share the right kind of chemistry through the course of shooting the show.
When asked about the stereotype of playing the ‘Hero ka Dost’ (the hero’s friend), here’s what Bhuvan said, “ ‘Hero ka dost play karne mein problem nahi hai’ (I don’t have any problem playing the role of hero’s friend). There’s a typical, clichéd way of presenting a hero’s friend. I’ve done that a lot in my initial phase, because I had to earn money, run my house, etc.”
Bhuvan continued to say that he said no to a lot of such offers because he didn’t enjoy it anymore. Which is why he didn’t want to play Firoz in ‘Farzi’ in the first place. He further added, “I have no problems with money, I don’t have to be a fakeer all my life. But, that’s not my priority. Money is just a tool to buy time. If I’m giving you my time, don’t waste it.”
