Namit Das on his character Ganesha in Hamara Vinayak: 'Connects with all ages'

While researching for this interview we discovered that Namit Das is not only an actor but also a trained singer owing to his musical lineage So we requested him to hum a tune mdash and he did mdash leaving us pleasantly surprised by the range of his talent This year has been particularly exciting for Das He starred in Aap Jaisa Koi in July followed by The Taj Story in October and now Hamara Vinayak in which he plays Lord Ganesha ldquoNovember is a turning phase for merdquo says Das as he talks about his upcoming work In conversation with midday he discusses what drew him to the show how it appeals to a universal audience and why he ultimately chose acting over musicExcerpts from the interviewWhat was your first impression of Hamara Vinayak when it was offered to youWhen I read it for the first time I realised there is so much content releasing on streaming platforms television and social media But we do not have a show that is happy simple and talks about basic values on how human beings should exist and live happier And this seemed like something that would fit into that category and nature I felt it would be a clutterbreaker and a challenge for me to play this characterBeing the son of ghazal singer Chandan Dass and having trained in music since childhood how did it not become the focus of your careerI have a band and I have released a few songs here and there I think life surprises you letrsquos put it that way Often while you are making plans for life life is actually making plans for you And you have to live according to whatever is thrown at you Somehow singing never happened Even when I was growing up I used to go for college competitions But singing never gave me the right direction then I donrsquot know what happened there but it came back and it keeps coming back into my life through theatre and other formatsWas there pressure to follow in your fatherrsquos footstepsNo My parents are very sweet They have always stood by and supported whatever choices I made In fact some of my family members were surprised with my choice of subjects in college But my mum stood by me She said that if he wants to take up arts then that is his decision In fact my father said something very beautiful when I told him that I want to be a singer actor and be in the performing arts He said lsquoBeta karne ki vidya hai jitna karoge utna hi paogersquo That is what I have lived byWhen you pick roles do you decide based on how they align with your ambitions in the industryNot at all A lot of my choices are determined by the conversations I have with the makers In this case I interacted with director and writer duo Ashutosh Chaturvedi and Pankaj Mavchi Agastya Jain who is the creator and showrunner and producer Siddharth Kumar Tewary When you start having fun in those conversations that is when you align with the projectDid Aap Jaisa Koi and The Taj Story change your trajectoryYou canrsquot plan these things It has all been very organic and instinctive While I do not think it changed anything the audiences will know better how my career is shaping up You just keep doing whatever comes your way it helps you survive in the city and build a lifeMost Ganesha stories are meant to draw kids to a show So who is the target audience of Hamara VinayakI think everybody mdash from kids to senior citizens Itrsquos such a happy show It brings in a lot of positivity Itrsquos such a universal subject that it will connect with all age groups When the first episode dropped my nephew connected with it and so did my uncle who is 15 years older than meWith a valuesdriven show therersquos always the risk of sounding preachy How did you maintain the balanceThe writers Ashutosh and Pankaj actually maintained that balance When I was having a chat with them initially I expressed the same concern When I read it I realised their vision steered away from the preachiness or the traps of a subject like that It was completely opposite The audience learns things on a subliminal level Itrsquos in the mannerisms and little looks itrsquos done in a very subliminal wayBesides getting into the garb of Vinayak what else did you do to get into the zone for the roleI think it was very simple for me It had to be divinity mdash something otherworldly I broke it down to the innocence and energy of a child that all of us want to hold on to I just tapped into that literallyWhatrsquos next after thisI have a film called Minimum which is the opening film for the Jagran Film Festival The film also stars Saba Azad Naseeruddin Shah and Geetanjali Kulkarni There is a show for Applause Entertainment which has been waiting for some time There is another film called Vrindavan which will find its wayat some point