How Did Aashiesh Sharma Prepare To Play Transgender In Khejdi? Actor Reveals - EXCLUSIVE

Aashiesh

Sharma, best known for Siya Ke Ram and Prithvi Vallabh, recently featured in Khejdi. Directed by Rohit Dwivedi, the film follows the story of a transgender who is raised in isolation by her father to protect her from social ostracism. For the first time in his career, Aashiesh Sharma portrayed the role of a transgender person in this film. Post its release on Stage, Zoom exclusively interacted with the actor. In conversation with us, Aashiesh revealed how he prepared to play this character. Read on to know what the actor shared.

Aashiesh Sharma on taking up transgender's role

Aashiesh told us that he didn't want to approach the character through imitation or surface-level behaviour. His intention was to understand emotional core of the person and let everything else flow organically from there. Apart from that, the actor revealed there was a physical prep involved as well.

"I trained in Kathak to bring fluidity and grace into the body so the movements wouldn’t feel constructed or artificial. Alongside that, I underwent a six-month physical transformation where I lost weight, softened my body language, and worked on bringing vulnerability into my eyes," he told Zoom.Aashiesh added that the real work, however, was internal. "It was about stripping away anything that felt performative and reaching a space where I could simply exist as the character," he added.

Aashiesh Sharma on challenges faced

Continuing on the same topic, Aashiesh opened up about the challenges he faced while playing this character. He called it one of the most demanding roles he's ever done. And it is not because the role was different, but it required honesty.

"There was no room to hide behind image, style, or technique .Also, since I had written the character myself, there came a point where I genuinely questioned whether I would be able to do justice to what I had imagined. That fear stayed with me for quite some time.But I think fear can also push you deeper. It forces you to become more truthful as an actor and as a person," mentioned Aashiesh.

Aashiesh Sharma's past projects

On the work front, Aashiesh started his career on television with Gunahon Ka Devta. He also played the lead role in the show, Chandragupta Maurya. A few years later, he featured in other projects like Rangrasiya, Siya Ke Ram, Prithvi Vallabh, and more. Besides television shows, the actor featured in a couple of movies as well.