Avinash’s greatest quality in ‘The Freelancer’ is his ability to read minds of people: Mohit Raina (interview)

Mumbai, Dec 18

Actor Mohit Raina, who has been getting a lot of positive response for the second season of his streaming ‘The Freelancer’ has shared that the greatest quality of his titular character in the series is his ability to read the minds of people, something which allows him to cut across the language barrier given his job profile.

In the series, which is based on the book, ‘A Ticket to Syria’ by Shirish Thorat, Mohit essays the role of a commando who goes on an extraction mission to bring Aliya back from Syria.

The actor recently spoke with IANS, and discussed his character in the series, the experience of working with the creator and the showrunner Neeraj Pandey, and the key difference between OTT and films.

Talking about the biggest asset of his character, he told IANS: “The greatest quality of Avinash is to read the minds of people. In his job profile and the field that he operates in - travelling across continents, interacting with people from different nationalities - there’s sometimes a language barrier also, and that’s where his ability to read everybody’s mind comes in handy to develop interpersonal relationships.”

Sharing his experience of working with Neeraj Pandey, he said: “Neeraj sir is great to work with, he shows you the path but he never gets into the nitty-gritty of a character. He gives you the idea and shares his vision and what he thinks of the character and how it is influenced by others in the story.

“Usually, you think about only your character but as a maker, he has to ensure that every performance comes together to achieve the larger goal of telling an impactful story.”

Unravelling the layers of his character, Mohit told IANS: “From the audience’s perspective, Avinash is a guy who will go to any lengths to bring Aliya back home. But he also has his doubts and insecurities and deep down he can’t show that he is going by his guts.

“He also has a lot of questions in his head. He hasn’t done this with any loved one, he has always done this as a job but when you put emotions in there, it becomes very tricky because the heart and the mind are involved.”

“The makers wanted Avinash to look like someone who has seen enough and has lived a life of the highs and the lows. Neeraj sir wanted to present me in a way in which I hadn’t been presented before, so we went for short hair, a little bit of beard at times.

“This was the external trait of this character. Internally, we didn’t want him to come across as someone who is too accessible. That’s why I had to walk a certain way, mix with the crowd and not stand out,” he added.

The actor commands an equal prowess in films, OTT and television. When asked if the medium affects the portrayal of a character, he said: “For me, it’s always about my instinct with regards to a character that I’m portraying. I don’t think the portrayal of a character can be medium oriented. What OTT does is, it gives you a lot of space to explore and to correct the mistakes in upcoming seasons.”

“In a series, if you feel like certain things weren’t working out with regards to your character, you can change them in subsequent seasons factoring in the audience response, films don’t give you that liberty. In a film, what you have done is locked forever unless it’s a franchise which again works on the same principle as a series,” he added.

‘The Freelancer: The Conclusion’ streams on Disney+ Hotstar.

#