Actor Harry Parmar on playing the antagonist in 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'

My experience of working on this project was a very enriching experience. I have wanted to work with Anubhav Sir. This was an incident which we all closely monitored and followed when it happened. It was a national crisis for us because around 180 innocent lives were in danger and were in the hands of five terrorists. So when I got to know that I have been finalised to play the character of Doctor who was actually the brain behind this and actually executed the hijack, I was really thrilled. Then there were the intelligent minds like Anubhav sir and Trishant Srivastava (the writer) to always listen to your questions and patiently answer all your questions and doubts then what else you can ask for! And then you are featuring along with  the stalwarts of the Hindi cinema like Naseeruddin sir, Pankaj Sir, Manoj Pahwa ji, Kumud bhai, Arvind Swami, Aditya Srivastava bhai, along with Vijay and Patra. So, the experience was very enriching.

I have received a very overwhelming response from the series. People who actually know me have told me that I feel terrified of you now. Some of my friends who really know me told me that the character is so much opposite to your real life personality and when we were watching the series you sent shivers down our bones was such a huge compliment. My social media inboxes are filled with congratulatory messages. So, the response is phenomenal.

I have not taken up anything yet because whatever is being offered right now is not in the space that I want to do. I am taking it very slow and waiting for the right project and a character which challenges me as an actor.

During the prep, I read as much as I could about the entire mishap and developed the character based on a lot of facts and a little bit of Imagination. I tried to gauge the inner world of my character. Doctor's motivation to conduct this operation and his expectations out of this operation. I tried to manoeuvre through what would be his Doctor's frame of mind when they hijacked the plane. What would he be thinking when they had to fly from Amritsar airport without refilling the fuel of the plane. What was going through his mind when he killed an Innocent civilian in the plane and grievously injured another passenger. What would he be thinking when finally they arrived in Kandahar from Dubai. As far as feeling traumatised is concerned, I feel the actor in me is a different entity and the character I am playing is a very different entity. I always demarcate a  thin line between my real self and the character I am playing. I never let the character in me take control of my real self and that is what I think all the actors try to do. The actor in me just travelled through the inner world of the Doctor and depicted and performed some of the events which he performed and came back to my real self.