PAWAN SHANKAR TO MAKE HIS DEBUT IN BOLLYWOOD WITH BHUJ-THE PRIDE OF INDIA

Jyothi Venkatesh

One wonders where on earth Pawan Shankar vanished for the last six years before he was part of the show Guddan Tumse Na Ho Payega. Now again he will not be seen for quite some time on TV because he is excited about his foray in Bollywood with the film Bhuj The Pride of India where he will be seen as an antagonist for the first time with Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn. The film is all set to be released directly on the OTT platform Disney Plus Hotstar in the month of July. Exults Pawan, “I am playing the role of Omani, the Inter Services Intelligence chief who instigated the Kutch attack during the India –Pakistan war in 1971 and destroyed the runway at the Bhuj airport. I am quite excited to work with such talented co-actors like Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha etc under the direction of Abhishek Dudhaiya. Abhishek had seen my work in the TV serial Siddhanth way back in 2004 and offered to cast me in the film.

When asked if he was skeptical about playing a negative role in films, he quipped, “Today, the antagonist does not have any particular image in films, what with the leading actors also setting out to play positive as well as negative roles in films, like Say for example Saif Ali Khan. Pawan Shankar adds, “Shooting for a film is dynamically different from shooting or a TV serial. In films you finish each shot with accuracy and precision and also the quality of the equipment is superlative whereas on TV there is so much content that needs to be wrapped in one day and we need to compromise on our performances. We hope and trust Pawan’s tryst with films proves to be as fruitful as it has been on the small screen all these years and he comes up with flying colors in his new path.