'Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar' actors remember Raj Kushal's unique style

Mumbai, Nov 4 (IANS) Vicky Arora, who plays the male protagonist in the web series 'Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar', which was also the last work of late director Raj Kaushal, says the director has a unique way of extracting performances from the actors.

Kaushal, incidentally, was the husband of the multi-talented Mandira Bedi. Vicky told IANS: "When I got a call from Raj sir about the show and the character I was supposed to play, he said to me, 'Listen, this is the show I am making and the outline of the character Bhargav is such ....' In my head, I was like, 'Why does he think I am such a boring bum to play a character like Bhargav? Eventually, when I read the script, I realised how interesting the character is."

Vicky continued: "Raj sir had a unique style of directing actors. He gave us full freedom to interpret the characters in the way we wanted to and did not dictate to us how to act in a scene. That gave me the confidence to bring out my best."

Fellow actor Shishir Sharma, who also plays a pivotal role, added to what Vicky said by observing: "Yes, he was not a director who would say 'I want it this way'; rather, he would allow me to act out a scene the way I saw it. If it did not match his vision, then he would fine tune it to get what he wanted. That is how the actor-director relationship became stronger."

He added: "It was not an easy show for us to shoot during the pandemic within a short span of time with so many restrictions. But we managed to do it, only because we all submitted ourselves to Raj's vision for the show."

Directed and produced by Raj Kaushal, 'Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar' has been written by Aman Khan. Kaushal passed away on June 30 this year after succumbing to a heart attack.

The story revolves around a scam pulled off by two friends Bhargav Sharma (Vicky) and Siddhant Rastogi (played by Anuj Rampal), who believe that "good life is just one scam away".

Recalling the last day of the shoot, Shishir said: "Raj walked towards me and whispered into my ear, 'I think we have a winner in our hand, show accha ban gaya.' I agreed with him, I hugged him, kissed him on his forehead and said, 'Show release ho jaye, we will party.' Little did I know that was the last time we were meeting."

Vicky added: "I still can see Raj sir is giving us that vivacious smile, holding a drink in his hand, saying to us, 'Cheers, guys! Ab to tum saare youngsters famous ho gaye, show accha ban gaya!' Losing Raj sir is a personal loss."

'Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar' is streaming on Prime Video.