Recall some of the notable faces of Indian television and Nandish Sandhu of the Hindi serial Uttaran fame flashes in our memory. The show that began in 2009 continued till 2012 scripting a glorious career ahead for the Dholpur-bor n actor. Since then, Nandish has featured in TV serials like Phir Subah Hogi (2012), Beintehaa (2013), and Encounter (2014) besides featuring in India’s top reality shows like Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 6 (2015) and Nach Baliye (2015). The 41-year-old actor made his official film debut with the character of Pranav Kumar in the biographical drama Super 30, starring Hrithik Roshan tasting commercial success in cinema. This time, he steals our hearts with yet another remarkable performance in Amazon Prime’s trending period drama Jubilee.
The 10-episode series features an ensemble cast of Nandish, Aparshakti Khurana, Aditi Rao Hydari, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Ram Kapoor, Wamiga Gabbi and Sidhant Gupta where they play engaging characters who are ready to take gambles in pursuit of love, dreams, passion and ambition. Nandish plays Jamshed Khan, a theatre actor and aspiring film star in the show. While he has less screen presence, his actions and choices drive the plot in unexpected ways leading to a web of nail-biting twists and turns. We speak to the actor on his impressive performance, “Jamshed Khan’s character is crucial to the show’s storyline. He brings a certain energy and strength to the show that impacts each character in a unique way. His strong personality and witty comebacks have a way of influencing the trajectory of the show and serving as a catalyst for character development.”
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Adding on how he resonated with the role, he tells us, “My personality and Jamshed’s personality are poles apart but I do relate to him in a few ways. For instance, he knows that he is good at his job, he knows his craft and is confident about it. He knows his selfworth, and what he brings to the table. He is fearless and independent in conduct which I relate to.” After having a hit series to his credit, the actor now wishes to strike a balance between doing projects which are commercial and projects which satisfy his soul as an artist. The actor is passionate about acting to the extent that he loves to spend his spare time refining his acting chops with “notes” . “I make notes about the performances and the scenes that I like from whatever I watch. If you make notes, you can refer to them for future performances.”
However, over the years, Nandish has designed a fine work-life balance and enjoys listening to music, playing sports, travelling and cycling in leisure! He is equally conscious of a healthy lifestyle and loves to burn extra calories with workouts. Telling us about his fitness routine, he shares, “Fitness and diet have become very important for me since the onset of COVID. Earlier, we actors wanted to look good on screen and hence followed a certain healthy lifestyle. Now life has become very uncertain in the pandemic. People are falling sick frequently and facing sudden life-threatening issues. So staying fit has become part of a routine to keep health in check.” However, when it comes to diet, he prefers eating everything, “I try everything. If you can burn what you eat, that’s great. Try not to go overboard with sugar, fats and junk food.”
On that note, we asked him what he does for mental well-being since he looks calm and composed on and off-screen all the time! “I’ve been practising meditation for the past few years now and it’s been incredibly helpful in calming me down during stressful situations or when I’m feeling low or anxious. I experience a lot of different emotions, but meditation keeps me at peace. Music is also a big calming factor in my life. It helps stabilise my mood when something in life goes out of control. Spending time with family is another stress-buster.”
Jubilee is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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