Many characters contest for the throne of Mirzapur. However, Anjumm Sharma, who plays Sharad Shukla in the Prime Video show, asserts that his character is the real king. “A king is one who uses his mind more than his body. He should be able to think on his feet, have an influence on everyone else around him, and make them all feel secure about his ways.
In Mirzapur, only Sharad meets all these criteria. The likes of Guddu Pandit (Ali Fazal) and Munna (Divyendu Sharma) are too impulsive and aggressive to be adorned with this title. Sharad provides stability and brings in business. In fact, even his fiercest rival in the third season, Guddu Pandit, acknowledges some of his qualities,” says Anjumm.
Sharad undergoes many subtle transformations over the course of the series; Anjumm says they occur gradually. “Thematically, Sharad is similar to Michael Corleone from The Godfather. He is a thinker, a reluctant outsider who happens to be in the world of crime. Contrastingly, the audience would know that if Sharad chooses to follow in his father’s footsteps, he could also be the most powerful player.
In the first season, Sharad advises his father Rati Shankar Shukla (Shubrajyoti Barat) about Munna Tripathi and his father Akhandanand Tripathi/Kaleen Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi), the most powerful person in the universe. This scene forms the basis for the whole development and trajectory of the character. Even I did not know where he would go next.”
Further explaining his character arc, Anjumm says, “In Season 2, he conspires and strategises about how he can gain validation (of the Tripathis and other statesmen) and a foothold in the universe so that he could attain his ultimate goals. He is passive and on the back foot there. In Season 3, however, he transforms from a minor antagonist into the main protagonist of the show.
He looks physically stronger, and there are additional layers to him, including an emotional one. So the character becomes so much more dynamic that you could almost see his progression towards becoming a hero, although he starts off as an underdog.” Sharad is also different from some of the other characters in Mirzapur, in that he is no hypocrite. Someone like Kaleen or even Guddu’s father Ramakant Pandit (Rajesh Tailang) does not always act according to the values they profess. But Sharad is righteous and always upholds his values, whether they are right or wrong.
“These are the qualities that make him distinctive. He even makes this aspect explicitly clear in the show. For example, there is a beautiful moment in Season 2 where he tells SP Maurya (Amit Sial), ‘Our ultimate goal may be the same, but it is not necessary for our paths to be identical. You go down your path, and I will do what I feel is right for me.’ So yeah, he does not rely on shortcuts to become the king of Mirzapur. The difference between Sharad in the first two seasons and the third one is that his journey is individualistic in the former, but he gets the validation and support of the other statesmen in the latter. This shows everyone else relates to his objectives and sees him as the next king.”
However, Anjumm says he knows that the character also has his fair share of flaws. Despite all the foresight and intelligence he possesses, Sharad has an emotional layer that ultimately contributes to his downfall. “The great irony of Mirzapur is that even the most intelligent man, who has guarded almost everything around him, leaves the door to his heart open in a way that challenges his existence. You could say that this is his Achilles heel.”
Anjumm found it more challenging to always keep the arc or graph of his character in mind. “The dynamics undergo subtle changes from time to time. For example, when Sharad meets Madhuri (Isha Talwar) in the first episode of Season 3, he views her as the CM of UP and gives her the respect the position demands. However, over the course of the season, their equation goes through certain tonal changes. For Sharad, we first shot his last scene. Therefore, I had to constantly be aware of where Sharad is in the story, which was more challenging.”
Anjumm made his debut in Slumdog Millionaire (2008), but he considers the role in Mirzapur his big break. “I am still treated as one of the newcomers. It shows that I have been going under the radar all this while. I met people from different walks of life over the last few years, and you can see some of their characteristics in Sharad. I needed these life experiences to take on such a complex role and do some justice to it.”
from Hindi https://ift.tt/WeK4OFN
via IFTTT
