Seal, with a flourish

The actor who was in movies like Tum Bin 2 (2016), Namaste England (2018) and Purani Jeans (2014) and acted in the series Fitrat (2019), shot to fame as Manav Randhawa in the 2019-hit film, Student of the Year 2 (SOTY2). After a notable performance in the 2020-film Indoo Ki Jawani, opposite Kiara Advani, the young man has left a deeper mark in the minds of his audiences with his performance as Humayun in the recently launched series The Empire. We speak with the actor who, by the looks of it, is now one of the casting favourites in many films and shows. Excerpts from the interview:

Q How has the response been to your Humayun in The Empire?

The response has been overwhelming and I am hoping we go into Season 2 as well. I do hope that Humayun will be able to do something more in the second season. The writing and the shooting has still not happened. As for the first season, I’d met Nikhil Advani a while back after which he’d approached me with the other producers Niranjan and Ryan for Indoo Ki Jawaani. Nikhilji seemed to like what he saw of me in that film and approached me for the role of Humayun. A show like this has a very high budget and is a bold step, and it was a task to make it.

Q How has your journey been over two decades ?

It’s been a roller-coaster ride. A lot of people are not aware of the downs. They only remember the ups. I’ve done my work and learnt a lot and hence I have no regrets about it.

Q How tough was it to handle the downs in your career?

It did not become that difficult because of my dad, Ravi Seal. He always supported me when my films did not do well. He just asked me to work and not worry about running the house or my next meal. So wherever I am, whatever dancing or martial arts or little bit of acting I can do is because of his hard work.
That being said, it is easy to break when there are downfalls. For instance, Tum Bin 2 did not do well because it had released around demonetisation. My mother panicked and asked my dad to take me into the family business. Instead, my father had seen my work and was sure that I’d make it. That kept me going.

Q How different was it to move from films to web series?

Apart from the number of days it takes to make a web series, I don’t see any difference. Films and web series are at par. In fact, the production value of the series was high and even higher than many films.

The treatment and the shooting also took place with top-of-the-line artists and technicians. While we had the OTT for people to park their time during COVID times, it has opened up a new avenue for filmmakers. With the kind of stories and projects being made on OTTs, even films set to release in theatres will up the ante of their content.

Q SOTY2 turned out to be the breakthrough role for you. Your thoughts?

I started getting a lot of compliments from the people and the film got me noticed. But the other side is that people had not seen my other roles, and felt that I could be only restricted to roles where there is not a lot of work on the character. Slowly, I had to prove people wrong.

Q You were your teens when you did Ek Chhotisi Love Story. Any fond memories?

There was a scene when I had cut my veins and Manisha Koiralaji was supposed to come and hold my hand. She realised that the scene would require her hand to be seen and asked for ten minutes to do her nails. It took around 20 minutes and I was lying on the bed and I somehow slept off because the main light went off. It was to be her last scene of the day. After 20 minutes when the lights came on and I woke up, I saw her with her hair tied back and no makeup. She was beautiful. I cannot ever get that memory out of my head even though it is over 20 years old!