Actor Paresh Pahuja is in a good space right now. Though things didn’t take off immediately after his debut in the 2017 Salman Khan-starrer Tiger Zinda Hai, Paresh has proved his mettle and has enough scripts on his table to pick and choose. We caught up with the actor to talk about his recent big-screen release Operation Valentine and how he prepped to play a fighter pilot.

You play a squadron leader in Shakti Pratap Singh’s Telugu-Hindi film Operation Valentine. Were you actively looking for opportunities down south?

Paresh Pahuja: I had set a very clear intention to the universe that there’s so much good work happening down south, I wish I had a project there. A few days later, I got this call. The film is produced by Sony International Pictures. It’s a Hindi-Telugu film, so I jumped at it. This is exactly what I had asked for because I feel storytelling, right now, is pan-India. There are so many unique stories that are being told down south – RRR, Kantara, Pushpa. I couldn’t have asked for more. I think this is just the beginning and I hope I get noticed in the Telugu industry and do more films with them.

What about the Telugu film industry caught your attention?

Paresh Pahuja: It is such a humble, respectful and warm industry. We were treated with respect. They take a lot of pride in what they do, a lot of pride in their land and language, not trying to imitate or ape anything. I liked that authenticity.

Tell us something about your character, Squadron Leader Yash Sharma.

Paresh Pahuja: Just the name ‘Squadron Leader Yash Sharma’ sounded so good, and there’s a lot of swag attached to a fighter pilot. Not just in cinema but in real life too — the uniform, the jackets, the flying planes. It’s quite cool being up in the air.

We shot at the Gwalior Air Base. There were three-layer security checks. You have to leave your phone outside. Everybody is verified 40 days in advance. These massive airplanes, the Mirages and the Sukhois, are all around you. I was just so overwhelmed by that. I like to choose parts that take me to a different world and teach me about it.

How did you prepare to play a fighter pilot?

Paresh Pahuja: A major part of my initial training was learning Telugu and to at least reach a point where it should look like the actor was speaking the language. I did all my Telugu scenes myself. Of course, it’s been dubbed by somebody else to add another layer of authenticity.

My first instinct with any role is to familiarise myself with the world I’m getting into. For this one, the moment I was confirmed I started reading about planes, the Indian Air Force, and the Pulwama incident. I started watching documentaries and interviews of fighter pilots of different ranks.

We trained under an ex-Indian Air Force officer who taught us body language. She taught us how to salute, which has to be right at the eyebrow. Even the left hand that’s down can’t be just hanging there. The thumb has to stick out. You have to stand in the correct order, depending on the rank and things like that.

Comparisons with the Top Gun films and Fighter are inevitable for Operation Valentine. How are you taking it?

Paresh Pahuja: First of all, you can make multiple films around one incident. There are countless films on the Holocaust. If it’s an important part of our history, then there should be enough awareness about it and we should take pride in it.

As far as entertainment is concerned, if I show you the best aerial action in the world but the characters don’t resonate with you, you don’t feel for them, then you won’t feel for the machines, right? Every story has a different way of weaving those emotions and showing characters.

Fighter had a very unique way of doing it. I really enjoyed it. When I saw Hrithik Roshan coming out of the plane holding the tiranga (tricolour), I had goosebumps. Operation Valentine has very different characters and emotional layers. That’s our understanding of that incident. It's our way of telling a story.

Any memorable anecdotes from shooting Operation Valentine?

Paresh Pahuja: I was very excited about shooting the party scene. It was my audition scene and I was sure I was going to nail it. But that was one of the most tragic days of my life. My Nani (grandma) — I grew up with my Nana-Nani — passed away that very day. I had spoken to her the night before. I got a phone call at five in the morning saying that she was on the ventilator. Five minutes later, they said, ‘We have to pull the plug. She’s no more.’ I had to do all the rituals. At 5.30, I called Shakti and said I was feeling numb and didn’t know what to do.

Those were the combination dates as most of the cast members were involved in that scene. The production team suggested that I shoot for half the day if I could and wrap my portions and then take a flight in the evening. There was no other option.

There was a war going on inside me. I was giving the takes and then going away to howl. My eyes were red. I had to fix my makeup again and act funny and romantic. But I finished the scene. The same evening I flew to Ahmedabad to perform the last rites of my grandma.

After playing a villain in Lakadbaggha, an investigator in Kadak Singh and now a fighter pilot in Operation Valentine, what do you want to play next?

Paresh Pahuja: For the longest time, I have wanted to play a musician because I’m a musician too. I love making music and singing. A bit of it is going to happen in Bandish Bandits, which is my next project. I am playing a musician in that. But I really want to play a singer-songwriter in a film, like Rockstar or La La Land where I’ll be singing my own songs.

You started your career with a significant role in Tiger Zinda Hai but didn’t do many projects after that. Why?

Paresh Pahuja: I come from a humble background. I worked in an ad agency until acting happened. I got lucky with the Yash Raj film, Tiger Zinda Hai with Salman Khan, but I didn’t have a plan after that. I wish I had a roadmap and a vision for myself as to what kind of an actor I wanted to be.

I was clear about not playing a sniper or an agent again unless the character had a different arc. And that clarity delayed a few things because for six months after Tiger Zinda Hai, I was only offered similar web shows and films.

I waited and when the next big things came, they were very different from each other – Tandav (2021), Jogi (2022), and Kadak Singh (2023). For Bandish Bandits, I learnt to play the sitar for six months. My fingers were bleeding. So, yeah, I wanted to do different things because I wanted to be excited about the characters I was going to play.

Are you in a happy place now in terms of work?

Paresh Pahuja: I am very clear that I want to do films that I resonate with. I did an independent project called Lord Curzon Ki Haveli (currently at Wench Film Festival), and then I did a mainstream film like Operation Valentine.

I am now in a position to choose. I like that there are multiple scripts on my table. I know if I pick something, I won’t be able to do anything else for the next six months. So that selection process is something that I am more cognizant about because it can get tricky. Sometimes you follow your instinct, sometimes you have to go with logic. That’s a new space for me. It’s a nice space. I have always wanted this.