It isn’t everyday that an actor gets to play someone returning from a near-death experience and by a quirk of fate, has the power to travel through memories of someone else lying in comatose state. In Memories , the web series for Viu directed by Vikram Bhatt, actor Rohit Roy enacts Siddharth Sareen who’s equipped with this power and helps unravel a mystery.
Speaking to us about Memories , Roy remembers suspending his disbelief and listening in to Vikram Bhatt’s narration of the thriller: “The way Vikram Bhatt narrated it, the possibility of getting into others’ minds and tracking their memories seemed believable. It’s a well-etched character and story; when I learnt that there are cases of 37 people who’ve sprung back to life after being taken off life support for a few minutes, I was all ears. Certain things are beyond our understanding, maybe that’s why they are termed supernatural.”
He was required to be in almost every scene of Memories – either as an aggressive head of a television news channel or in spirit, witness to memories that unfold – and the actor says demarcating between the two was the key. Now that the first few episodes are out, he’s glad with the audience response. “A lot of people on twitter have noticed the nuances. When I agreed to work on this series, I instinctively felt it would be a winner,” he says.
Memories was originally designed for 10 episodes but went on to be 13. The series also helped him collaborate with Vikram Bhatt after 20 years. Of late, Bhatt’s cinematic journey has been synonymous with the Hate Story films. “I wouldn’t have minded working in one of them,” laughs Roy.
Bhatt and he have been good friends over the years and that rapport, he says, helped ease the exhaustion of an intensive work schedule. “The good thing about the digital platform is you have the entire script, unlike what happens with television. So that margin of errors is reduced. We’d be working 14 to 16 hours per day and since I am required in every other frame, it was tiring. But I won’t complain, because I knew what was expected of me. On one day I remember having a slanging match with Vikram on the sets. Since we’ve known each other for long, we didn’t make a big deal out of it,” he says.
Incidentally, it’s been 25 years since Rohit Roy was first seen on television, in Swabhimaan . He’s shifted between television, cinema and theatre before testing the web series zone. Cinema has been an unpredictable beast that continues to puzzle him. “I’ve been part of some big hits,” he says, referring to Shootout at Lokhandwala and Kaabil , “but I’ve never been able to follow up on the success with other films. I won’t lie that I got a few scripts, I am reading them and waiting for the right one etc. The truth is, barring a couple of offers that I didn’t like, nothing worthwhile came,” he admits.
The Telugu film industry has been reaching out to him on and off, he says, but he has stayed away so far. “I am scared, I have no knowledge of the language and don’t know how things work. Some truly interesting films are being made in the industry and I won’t rule out acting in a Telugu film sometime. If I set my mind on it, I can learn the language. I’ve acted in five Bengali films and recently completed my first Gujarati film,” says Roy, who will also be seen in an extended cameo in JP Dutta’s Paltan. The war drama is set in 1967 during the face-off between Indian and Chinese military forces at Nathu La and Cho La mountain passes. “I have the greatest regard for JP Dutta and I’ll even do a walk-on part for his film,” is all that Roy will reveal for now.
(Memories can be watched on Viu’s website and app)
