It is more important to be versatile as an actor today than it was five to 10 years ago, says Abhishek Bachchan, who has been receiving positive reviews for his acting in Season 2 of Amazon Prime Video’s psychological thriller series Breathe: Into the Shadow.
Abhishek, who has shown his acting chops in movies such as Yuva, Dhoom, Bunty Aur Babli, Guru, Dostana, Paa, Manmarziyaan and Ludo, believes that actors should aim for versatility and success in equal parts, and only then they can get their next project.
“It is important to be more versatile today than it was five to ten years ago. As an actor, if you want to be employed and remain employed, you have to be versatile, so that the makers have the confidence that no matter what they give you, you will be able to pull it off,” said Abhishek.
Abhishek was one of the first Bollywood stars to have ventured into the OTT space with the first instalment of Breathe: Into the Shadows, which premiered in July 2020.
He believes streaming platforms have opened the doors for new work opportunities for actors and exposed audiences to the best of content from across the globe, thereby pushing content creators to put their best foot forward.
“You have to be much more versatile today because there is that much more work and people are accepting different kinds of work,” he added.
The icing on the cake, according to the actor, is when the work is lauded by the people.
“If you get an offer, or you get more work, that means you are doing something right, and you should pat yourself on the back and get back to working,” he added.
In Season 2 of Breathe: Into the Shadow, the actor returns as Dr Avinash Sabharwal, a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder who kills people as he takes on the new name J.
The psychological thriller series is co-created and helmed by Mayank Sharma, who also directed the previous season.
Abhishek recalled how he first jumped at the idea of portraying the character when Sharma and Vikram Malhotra, Founder & CEO of Abundantia Entertainment, pitched the show in early 2018.
“As an actor, you jump at an opportunity like that. It is a wonderful character and there is a wonderful scope for performance. It is something I had not done before. It is an opportunity that you don't want to let go of,” he said.
His co-star Saiyami Kher, who reprises her role of the unapologetic and headstrong escort Shirley, shared she had a lot of questions for the director when she dived into the latest season.
And for reference, she revisited the show and fell in love with it all over again.
"The way Mayank looked at Shirley is very different from what most people associate the character's profession to be. The character is hard because of the profession she is in but there is a lot of softness to her internally. I felt all of this exciting," she said.
The Breathe: Into The Shadows franchise spawned out of the 2018 Prime Video show Breathe, which starred R. Madhavan and Amit Sadh.
