Actor Pallav Singgh made his debut in the entertainment industry with the Sakshi Tanwar starrer web series Mai in 2022. He went on to star in Taj: Divided By Blood. He is currently being praised for his performance as Shayar Raheem in Prime Video’s most-loved web series Mirzapur season 3. He recently sat down with SpotboyE for an exclusive chat and opened up about his experience of working in the show despite bagging a small role.
Can you tell us about your early days in acting and how you got started in the industry?
In my boyhood, as most boys are, I disapproved of the world and its ways and resorted to rash ways to deal with it. One of my teachers saw this, and said you have so much passion, and you have loving eyes, why give it to something else – give it to theatre. That was the starting point. From then on for a while, acting happened to impress people until one day it led to getting impressed by what I had to offer. I came to Mumbai after passing out of the NSD in Delhi, because I wanted to reach millions of hearts through my work in cinema, and Mumbai seemed to be the place for it. Mumbai is torrential with rains, local trains, and audition gains. You get it or you don’t. I kept on working and got lucky when it was time for me to get lucky. But now that I have, I won’t let this time pass.
How do you prepare for a role, and what techniques do you use to get into character?
To tell you, honestly, I’ve studied and practiced a lot of techniques in the course of NSD days, but what has always led to satisfactory results is to somehow reach a point where I don’t have to act - by method or by no method, by eating or by not eating. I feel I’m cursed or say blessed to feel more than I think and along with that, I am innately a curious soul. I just use these two qualities, to feel what it would be like to live the life written on the page, say those lines, and use curiosity to navigate - what else would have happened with this person that led to this state, he is in? I just sit at my table all day long and daydream with the script in front of me. Daydreaming is the way and the rest happens in the sleep.
What was your initial reaction when you were cast as Shayar in ‘Mirzapur 3’?
I was sitting by my window and I felt like screaming out of it. By default, actors are considered half lunatic, I didn’t want the housing society to believe that I had made the homerun – so I didn’t scream. I prayed to God and quickly dialled all my speed dial numbers, which have my family and closest friends. I wanted to keep it under wraps till the release, but I offloaded my surging excitement by calling people in my trust circle. Excel Entertainment is the producer of Mirzapur, I watched the Lakshya movie by Farhan sir that afternoon, ordered food, and sang along to all the songs of Lakshya. It was a blessed afternoon. Lakshya toh har haal mein paana hai.
How did you prepare for the role of Shayar, and what aspects of the character did you find most challenging?
It was not a very lengthy part, but a beautifully written part and I poured myself into it. It had the idiosyncrasies I don’t have, hence, it fired my curiosity - I kept on thinking for weeks, what it would be like to write such poetry filled with abuses. I tried to reach the skill and ease of Raheem by myself drowning into lots of poetry and started observing the beauty and rhythm in the abuses too. I learnt an important lesson from Raheem, that beauty can be found in the most unlikely places and words if we are willing and ready to find it.
Can you share any memorable moments or experiences from the set of ‘Mirzapur 3’?
Oh yes, when I run off the stage after the Netaji poetry, there was a person who was assigned to catch me. He caught hold of one end of the chunni, which rubbed across my neck and slashed it. It became an action sequence unknowingly. If he had gotten hold of both ends of the chunni, it would have broken my neck. It happened by mistake, but now I can say I put my neck on the line for playing Raheem, haha. The kind of standing over, I received on the set too, from the audience, was very assuring. But the moment, I singled out would be when I met my director Gurmmeet Singh for the first time, and he hugged me immediately. He brought the child alive, and from then on I just played.
How did you find working under the direction of the creators of ‘Mirzapur 3’?
They are addictive. You feel like a child in their company. Once you’ve played under their direction, you have them in your prayers to get more chances to work with them. Gurmmeet Singh, Anand Iyer, and Excel Entertainment.
What are your thoughts on the fan base of ‘Mirzapur’ and their reactions to your character?
It is the biggest show in India, hands down. If it would have contested elections, Mirzapur would be the Prime Minister of shows. Reaction to my character is overwhelming, people have made it their own with memes, private messages, and other kinds of reactions. It has made me a spoilt child, now I want it till my life ends and I will work a hundredfold more to make it come true. However, one is only as good or bad as the show and I credit all this praise to Mirzapur season 3.
What are your upcoming projects?
‘Superboys of Malegaon’, under the direction of Reema Kagti ma’am. It is going to premiere at the Toronto International Festival in Sept’24 and then will release on Prime Video or theatres. Reema ma’am is a rockstar. It is a story written by Varun Grover, inspired by a documentary and the life of people working in a small makeshift film industry of Malegaon. The film has a very youthful energy and charming heedlessness of a small town.
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