There’s a lot an actor has to train in before appearing on the screen. For Karanvir Sharma, besides learning how to write stories and assist directors, the bigger challenge was to overcome his speech impediment. He had a lisp. After working with speech therapists and dialogue coaches, today, he is often told to lend his voice as a voiceover artiste. It was the first thing that hooked us to this conversation with the actor. In a chat with mid-day, Sharma talks about The Trial season two, why adaptations have become an easy fix, and why he feels he is yet to get his due.
Excerpts from the interview.
Did you see The Good Wife before you signed up for The Trial?
I had seen The Good Wife when it was released earlier. It had been quite a gap. My directors [Umesh Bist and Suparn Varma] specifically told me not to watch it; it was the first brief he gave me. He said he didn’t want me to get limited with what the character was doing there. However, I still caught a few glimpses of it.
Did you compare yourself to Michael Ealy’s character Derrick Bond?
Absolutely, because of the memory I had of the character. It is very similar. Whoever has seen The Good Wife will see the exact arc, but it is more consolidated. The international show had about 23 episodes, but in the Indian version, we have only taken the highlights and made six episodes from it.
Don’t you think six episodes is enough to explore your character?
I may lose out [on fleshing out the] character, but crisp storytelling is the trend. People have started exploring content vertically because maybe the attention span is less these days. I think six episodes of 45 minutes each is good enough to tell a story. However, I also felt some more of my scenes could be added.
Is it a good or bad thing for people to compare the two shows?
It could be both. Some time back, I did a show called 24 — one of the initial shows to be adapted from an international series. I feel nakal ke liye akal lagti hai. Somewhere they hit the right chord for the first season, so the second season of it would be highly anticipated, because when the season two of The Good Wife came out, it was the highlight of the series too. I feel Umesh Bist will fill up the gap. His last series Gyaarah Gyaarah [2024] was a Korean adaptation, and he did a good job with it. The rest is up to the audience.
Why is the industry veering so much into adaptations? Are we running out of original ideas?
Adaptations have been going on for ages, it’s just that we are noticing it now because it’s at the forefront. Even Hindi TV shows are adapting from regional shows. I was part of Shaurya Aur Anokhi Ki Kahaani, which was the adaptation of the Bengali show, Mohor. It doesn’t mean every adaptation is going to be successful. I loved Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, but that is also an adaptation of the Korean movie, [A Moment to Remember]. It’s in the hands of the director to make it connect with the Indian audience. It’s not that we are running out of ideas. It’s so difficult for original scripts to get a pass these days. You have to be a salesman more than a creative in this industry now. I wish we had more originals because we have a rich culture.
How do you see yourself as an actor?
I always criticise myself. I feel if you get too comfortable with yourself, it will be your downfall. I feel that sentiment is unanimous among actors. I had done a scene which was mediocre in The Trial. It is a regret. I broke down and cried in front of the director. My mother was hospitalised and my uncle had undergone a surgery. [I had] too many things going on. As an actor you have to keep your personal emotions on the side, but it is not always possible. The next day, it was the climax scene of my character with the whole cast. It had a lot of give and take, and you cannot miss the beat, expressions, and movements. So, I had to switch off, I couldn’t repeat the mistake. I was nervous about it, but it happened, and my director loved it.
Do you think you’ve got your due in the industry?
Not at all. This was one of the reasons why I picked up The Trial. It was to show people that I can be part of all the mediums and I am a good actor. I will be very disappointed if people don’t appreciate what I have done. This is like a big comeback for me. For so many years, despite getting critical acclaim, I am not able to get out of the struggle. It’s been a decade or so since I have been acting, but I’ve never got a bad review. It has to account for something.
Six
Number of episodes in ‘The Trial 2’
Did you know?
Karanvir Sharma approached Rajkumar Santoshi to assist in direction, but was instead cast as an actor. However, the film never took flight.