From stepping into the shoes of the menacing Yaqub in Batwara 1947 to trying his hand at humour in Prime Video’s Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, actor Abhimanyu Singh discusses internalising complex antagonists, facing off against Sunny Deol, and learning from master director Rajkumar Santoshi. Excerpts:
Yaqub is a complex and intense antagonist during one of history’s most volatile periods. How do you tap into the psyche of a character driven by such extreme socio-political convictions?
First, I worked on the accent, then the character’s psyche; however, most things were already written in the script. Of course, Yaqub wanted to be a politician, but I needed to know exactly what was going on in his head to bring his body language to life. I tried to internalise the character rather than the other way round. Indeed, it has to come from within.
What was the dynamic while filming those high-voltage confrontation scenes opposite Sunny Deol?
It was challenging, as well as exciting and fun. I have been seeing Sunny Paaji (Sunny Deol) since my school-college days, and doing confrontation scenes with him felt like a dream-come-true moment.
How did Rajkumar Santoshi’s specific approach to drama and dialogue delivery shape your process as an actor on set?
There is so much to learn from Rajkumar Santoshi sir. You may be talented, but nothing replaces experience, and that’s what makes him extraordinary. He has vast experience directing radically different films throughout his career. His punctuality, vision, and clarity of thought in achieving the scene definitely shaped my process as an actor.
You have played memorable negative roles across Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil cinema (from Gulaal to Sooryavanshi). What made the role in Batwara 1947 stand out from the other antagonists you’ve played?
The length of Yaqub, the power with which he commands overall—I would like to say that he had more substance than many other characters that I have played onscreen. This character is so menacing that even the hero couldn’t touch him in the movie, forget about thrashing him. But towards the end, when the town defeats him and he surrenders his weapons, there is an unexpected closure to the character that makes him so unique.
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