Television’s hot hunk Ashish Sharma post his mytho-drama Siya Ke Raam, will soon be seen in another fantasy drama. The heartthrob, who was ranked in five sexiest Asian men in 2017, will be donning another doughty character in and as Prithvi Vallabh. The 40-episodes series is the first production of SET’s sub-brand SET Originals and is helmed under Anirudh Pathak’s Writers’ Galaxy.
Sharma, a winner of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, has been away from the television space for quite some time now. With this new show, the hot lad is quite elated about his character. The actor gives 7 reasons why Prithvi Vallabh will be different and is a must watch.
My comeback show: Prithvi Vallabh is my comeback show. We have been working on this project close to a year so that is why the gap has been long but I am sure this wait will be worth it.
Similarities between me and Prithvi: Prithvi and I have a lot in common. We both are calm and composed as characters. Prithvi was a compassionate king, who believed in taking everyone together, had deep interests in music, art, and literature. He loved poetry and strongly believed in peace and harmony. If provoked, Prithvi could be a fierce warrior. In reality, I am exactly the same. I have interests in poetry and literature. In spare time, I love writing poems and in fact, some of my poems have been used in the show for the character.
The character, Prithvi Vallabh: Not many have heard or read about him as there is limited information available in the public domain. He is a historical character and a king from the Paramara dynasty, who ruled the Malwa region. From that era, we have heard about Raja Bhoj and Prithvi Vallabh. He had laid the foundation for this kingdom, which Raja Bhoj carried forward. Prithvi was known to be a great warrior king with deep interests in art and literature. He was a poet, a musician and a dancer as well. During his time, he hugely encouraged and propagated art and literature.
A new work culture in Indian television: The GEC is bringing a different kind of work culture to India where shows are finite, pre-shot like a movie, extensive research is done, mountings are big, the scale is huge, where writing and characters are given more importance and prominence. It is not like a typical historical show about a king and war, there is a lot of depth in characters as well as content.
Role reversal and human story: Usually when one sees a historical or period drama, we always see a king who is fierce, arrogant, war savvy and who wants to conquer the world. Then a girl comes into his life and changes him forever. But in Prithvi Vallabh, it is completely the reverse. The viewers will see a princess, who is war savvy, fierce, who wants to conquer Malwa and likes to fight. Her entire kingdom is like that, where everything is about the truce, war, and violence. And then you see a king, who is about love, peace, wants to write poems, believes in the philosophy of live and let live. Prominently nobody changes in the show. They stand true to their character.
Never-seen-before stunts: I had to prepare a lot for my character. There has been an extensive research gone into building and creating each character. Both physical and psychological transformation was essential. I had to undergo training in traditional sword fighting and different action sequence, as it is a lot different from my earlier shows. Even the horse riding has some new stunts, which I had to learn. The show will have completely different stunts, never-seen-before on Indian television.
The Training and transformation: I had to undergo complete body transformation as Anirudh wanted Prithvi to be Indian with his physique inspired by Indian scriptures, which is quite different and does not have 6 packs. The Indian warriors were like wrestlers/pehlwans. Hence, I had to transform my body, build strength and develop muscle bulk and flexibility. Prithvi looks strong and physically fit but does not have the typical Greek and westernized physique. Besides this, I also had to grow my hair long to bring alive the Sufism to his character. There is also attention to detail to the costumes, with a touch of sensitiveness given the character is in touch with his emotions.
Well that’s what Ashish thinks. Interesting? We can only figure out once the show goes on air.
