Aditya Seal wins award for his latest web drama

He is riding high on the success of ‘The Empire’, a series on the rise and fall of the Mughal dynasty

Actor Aditya Seal has finally arrived. Earlier this week, he won the ‘Most Promising Actor’ award at the Dehradun International Film Festival 2021 for his latest portrayal as Humayun in period web drama ‘The Emperor’.

Before this much-lauded role, he had acted in films like ‘Purani Jeans’ (2014), ‘Tum Bin 2’ (2016), ‘Namaste England’ (2018), and ‘Student of the Year 2’ (2019).

Not many know but he started out as a teenage actor in ‘Ek Chotisi Love Story’ (2002). There he played a 15-year-old who was madly in love with his 26-year-old neighbour, essayed by actress Manisha Koirala.

In a quick chat with Metrolife, he recounts how he found his feet in Bollywood.

Which film got you noticed in Bollywood?

I would say ‘Student of the Year 2’ boosted my career. It got me eyeballs. Till then, people did not watch the work I was doing or I had done. But it was a big movie (a Karan Johar production) and it got me an audience.

Which film helped you grow as an actor?

It’s ‘Tum Bin 2’. My director Anubhav Sinha taught me how to approach a character. For the first time, I learnt to create the back story of a character and understand his journey till the present. That made it easy for me to relate to the character and play it. I also enjoyed the shoot as a person. After pack up, Anubhav sir would invite everybody over and cook food for us. Thanks to experiences like this, I made good friends with people working on the film and sets.

How was it playing Humayun in the web series ‘The Empire’?

I couldn’t be happier. When you are making a period drama, you expect the outcome to look grand. Think big palaces! They also make you look like a million bucks. Plus, I learnt a lot on the sets. We had great actors like Shabana (Azmi)ji. She is like a river flowing constantly. You can learn a lot by just observing her.

You shot for ‘The Empire’ during the pandemic. How was it?

It was scary. A lot of people were working under scorching heat in PPE kits. It was uncomfortable. One of the biggest challenges was that we were supposed to shoot abroad, which did not happen. We chose an alternative location. But a week before we were to start shooting, it started snowing. The snow
was four feet deep.

Did you face any other challenges?

A lot of horses and elephants were involved in the shoot. We didn’t have major injuries but there were instances of people falling off the horse. For me, the challenge was to learn horse riding. Right after the first day of training, I injured my neck doing something else altogether. So I could not train myself for horse riding well. On the day of the shoot, I was supposed to get down with a bow and arrow in one hand and ‘ghode ka lagam’ in the other. There were 25 horses following me. If I slowed down, horses behind me would crush me, and if I went fast, I would topple off. Those were my thoughts. But my horse was amazing. I give full credit to it (for completing the sequence without a mishap).