A negative character faces the wrath of the audience only if he or she delivers the best, says aashish mehrotra

Jyothi Venkatesh

Be it TV or films, a positive character becomes the audience's favourite in no time, but a negative character is criticised every day for being mean and bad on-screen. But Aashish Mehrotra, who is currently seen as Paritosh in Rajan Shahi's "Anupamaa", takes it positively and says it only happens when the actor is giving their best.

He said, "A negative character faces the wrath of the audience only if he or she delivers the best, and gives a promising performance required for the character. So if my character becomes negative and I get bad comments from people and they criticise me, I think internally as an actor I would be happy. So if an actor is getting bad comments for the negative, bad, or grey character they are playing, I think that's required, but if that doesn't happen then you need to think that maybe you are not giving your best."

Well, the "Paanch 5 Wrong Make A Right" actor also accepted that a negative character gets a lot of room to explore various emotions, while a positive one has a very limited and restricted room to explore."I always felt that any positive character is very similar. He is either very happy-go-lucky or bubbly, and they are portrayed as flamboyant and heroic. But I don't think a positive character needs all that.

I can talk about the character that I am playing now, and I can say that I get a lot of room to explore depending on the situation," he said. "I don't have a boundation that I need to be positive all the time; he can deal with any situation like any normal human being would do. So I am not restricted from doing anything like I don't have to smile all the time, I can be as irritated, as arrogant, as happy, and as flamboyant, as I can be. That is the liberty and room that I get with this character," he adds.

Aashish's character Paritosh was initially quite a loner and was busy with his books, but of late the audience is getting to see the other layers to his character as well. Talking about his on-screen character and how he managed to get a grip on it, he says, "Initially, I faced a lot of difficulties in understanding Paritosh, but Romesh sir, our director, has really helped me, and Rajan sir, our producer, also helped me in understanding my character. Slowly and steadily the character graph is going forward and he is moving forward in his life and slowly many other layers of my character will be revealed. I did face some problems initially, but I am sorted now and I am enjoying it. I have not yet achieved Paritosh, but slowly I am getting to understand him better."

If you are following him on Instagram, you must be aware that he shares a great bond with his on-screen sister Muskaan Bamne. He revealed she has become his off-screen sister too and said, "My on-screen sister Muskaan is my off-screen sister as well. It was an unsaid bond that just happened between us. We started talking and sharing things. And I guess something that happens on its own stays forever. I hope our brother-sister bonding remains strong. I love dancing with her and I believe that she also loves it. Our connection is such that we just tell each other about a step and the other one just gets it instantly."

And what about your on-screen brother Paras Kalnawat? He says, "With Paras too, I share a very good bond, I get to learn a lot from him in terms of the technicalities of Instagram or social media because he is a social media buff and he knows a lot about it. He is the best and he tells me a lot of things regarding social media. I am glad to have met him." "Anupamaa" is a unique show not only in terms of its content but also for the focus the makers have put on the characters other than the main lead.

Talking about the same Aashish says, "I am very happy to see the storyline of the show, and I am not just saying this because I am a part of the show. Usually, TV shows work on the same story graph, their only focus is on the lead, and they forget the parallel leads. Playing a parallel lead is only important for an actor because he has to survive in Mumbai, but at the same time it is very disheartening too, because he feels he can deliver so much but he is not getting an opportunity to do so. But in our show, every character is equally important, they have their character graph, and all of them are delivering their best."

"I think all of us have that hunger to perform well. We all want to make it a full package for the audience so that they enjoy not just the lead but also the parallel leads. 'Anupamaa' is 'Anupamaa' because every person involved on-set and off-set is delivering with full energy. And I am hopeful that 'Anupamaa' will prove to be a benchmark, in terms of the parallel leads getting the similar importance as the main lead, and it will help actors in boosting their career graphs," he signs off.