Anshumaan Pushkar: Satrangi Touches Niche World Of Launda Naach Performers

ZEE5

Hindi’s latest series, Satrangi – Badle Ka Khel draws from the world of Launda Naach, a traditional North Indian folk form where men perform in female attire at community celebrations. The performers are not portraying a separate gender identity, but are ordinary men carrying forward a cultural performance tradition that has existed across generations in rural India. In the series, Launda Naach goes beyond cultural context to become a lens for exploring identity, dignity, masculinity, and survival within a deeply unequal society, bringing a rarely seen world to life with sensitivity, humanity, and depth.

Anshumaan Pushkar on Satrangi character

Anshumaan Pushkar, who plays the lead in the show, opened up about his character Bablu’s journey and what stayed with him even after wrapping the shoot. “There were many such moments, but the most special moment was for Bablu's character when he heard about his father's death. Even the way the set was, his father's body was hanging on a big tree, and the visual itself is very dramatic and very touching. So, that was a moment for Bablu. As a character of Lali, when he got humiliated by those people, that was also a moment which was very connected and stayed in my mind for a very long time. While reading, it didn't feel like that, but after acting it out, that thing remains in you for a very long time, and you understand the reality of that particular class. The way this niche world is being touched and the life of the Launda dance performers. To feel that on the stage and off the stage, those moments were very unique in themselves,” he said.

Anshumaan Pushkar talks about playing Launda Naach performer

Talking about playing a Launda Naach performer, Anshumaan added, “Our director Jai introduced me to Rakesh Kumar, who is an actor from NSD. But before that, he was a launda dance performer in his native place, Bihar. He shared a lot of his experiences. The etiquette, the mannerisms I needed, the movements of the dance. The inner life that they have and how they feel. What was his take on these situations personally? A lot came from his experiences. Apart from the videos, the most important thing was the time I spent with Rakesh. He taught me a lot about these performers.”

Anecdotes from Satrangi set

Sharing anecdotes from the sets, he shared, “There were plenty of moments - our cast is very brilliant. It felt like every day was a learning day. Because while acting with the cast, I didn't know if I was acting with the actors or actual characters. They are all very dedicated and very sincere actors. They understood the characters completely, and a lot of times it felt like we were living in that world. It was a very good experience. Where your co-actors were giving you the feeling that everything was happening for real. Like, there is a scene where there are two groups - there is a Pandey group and a Thakur group. There is a discussion between them, and I am manipulating things over there. The situation was such that the way we rehearsed before the take, I felt like it was being lived there and not like acting. So there are a lot of such moments. And the kind of performances that took place, I can confirm that this show will be remembered as one of the best acted-out shows by the actors.”The show co-starring Kumud Mishra and Mahvash released on May 22.