Ishwak Singh: Felt script was more informative than biography

After several blinkandmiss roles Ishwak Singh created an impact with his act as an idealistic cop in Paatal Lok following it up with an earnest performance in Unpaused With his portrayal of Vikram Sarabhai in SonyLIVrsquos Rocket Boys the actor has shown once again that he can slip into difficult roles with ease In a chat with midday Singh talks about becoming the physicist on screen and how the showrsquos biggest win is its remarkable writingEdited excerpts from the interviewWhat was your first reaction when this role was offeredI was excited After all itrsquos not every day that you get a part where everything is up your alley I wanted to do work that involves great writing and the show offers that Early on I got to read a part of the script during the auditions and I knew it was a human story When I started reading the episodes it seemed like a great piece of literature It makes me aware of the world of scienceHow much of Vikram Sarabhairsquos life were you aware of beforeI was aware of him I had the opportunity to see Mallika Sarabhai perform at Darpana Academy of Performing Arts Vikram Sarabhai started IIM Indian Institute of Management he is the father of Indian space research but it was fascinating to know the circumstances and the resources with which he created all this It was inspiring to know about the anecdotes which can easily be transformed into multiple stories No matter how much research I did I didnrsquot feel the burden of playing a character like thatHow much of the story is fictionalisedFor me the script was the bible That said I also referred to his biography Vikram Sarabhai A Life written by Amrita Shah I kept going back to the book to know Vikram In the series everything is factual and authentic to the point that at times I felt the script was more informative than the biography You canrsquot call it fictionalising it is more like filling in the blanksWas there a part of Sarabhairsquos story that didnrsquot make it to the final cutThatrsquos a question for the writers Since I got to know him through the research and script I think all the significant aspects of his life were portrayed The family was involved in the making of the story at an early stage Some things may not have found their way into the script but it was complete in its own wayDid you identify with Sarabhairsquos ideologies against making an atom bombIf you have read Sarabhairsquos biopic the series will be an eyeopener This man was brilliant highly educated had everything at his disposal and was a great thinker I find no reason to not subscribe to his ideology I didnrsquot require great acting skills to get into the mind of Vikram Sarabhai because I could understand where this man is coming fromHow was it to work with Jim SarbhI love Jimrsquos work and also envied him for the kind of hustle he has been through I have seen him make suggestions about how we could do a scene during the workshops We wouldnrsquot necessarily agree on everything but there was always mutual respect It was a collaborative effort mdash one of the reasons why I always want to work with newage filmmakers like Abhay PannuYou have Berlin up nextI love Atul Sabharwalrsquos director writing We are already doing workshops the character is creeping inside and becoming a part of me