Interview | Mrinal Dutt on working with Randeep Hooda in Swantantrya Veer Savarkar: 'He's super passionate'

Actor Mrinal Dutt has been in the industry for a while now and has played varied roles in different mediums. Hailing from the capital cityDelhi, Duttstarted his career from scratch and has a fair share of projects such asPrivate Investigator,Tuneega Tuneega,Roomies among others,under his belt in his decade-long career.Mrinal will now be seen in Randeep Hooda's Swatantra Veer Savarkar. The movie is based on the life and times of the iconic freedom fighter, who has often been seen as a controversial figure in Indian history.

While Randeep plays the titular character, Dutt essays the role of Indian revolutionary Madan Lal Dhingra. Before the big release of the movie, Dutt spoke with WION and shared his experience of playing the role of a freedom fighter, workingwith Randeep Hooda and more.

Here is an excerptof the chat:

WION: In Swatantra Veer Savarkar, you are playing the role of Madan Laal Dhingraji.This will be the first time when you will be seen playing the role of an Indian revolutionary. How did you prepare for the role, tell us the backstory.

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Mrinal: So, when I was selected or when I was called for this role, I didn't know much about him. Then I started my research to learn more about hispersonality and the more I got to know about this person, I was blown away by the fact that how little we knew about him. We know about Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekharan Singh and Udham Singh. But he's the man who started this, Bhagat Singh was inspired by him. What Bhagat Singh did, he did 20 years before him. He (Madan Laal Dhingra)killed Curzon Willey. Following on his footsteps, Bhagat Singh killed John Saunders. A certain amount of material about him, his life and how and what kind of person he was was available. So, I needed to sort of tap into that. I read about him through as many sources as I could. I spoke to my father, and my grandfather, and they knew more about him. I hope people will know about this about him after the film is released.

WION: You are part of the movie based on Veer Sawarkar, who played ahuge part in Indian history. Personally, are you a history buffor, it was the subject in school that made you fall asleep like many others?

Mrinal:Yes, I love knowing about history. But, I'm not obsessively crazy about history, but I am very interested in what happened in the stories and people that existed. I'm very fascinated by the people and personalities that existed in the past and that makes me very excited about their stories and their journeys which had happened. In this context, Savarkar Ji's story, our freedom struggles and the first armed revolution- got me super excited.I understood that this story needs to see the light of the day, and people need to know about these characters, and they need to come to the forefront. It should not be something, when you are asked about them you have to go Google it. If you know Bhagat Singh, you should know them as well. That's what my idea was.

WION: How was the shooting experience with Randeep Hooda?

Mrinal:My shooting experience with Randeep was very nice. He's super passionate and yeah I thinkalways wanted to work with him and it came through Savarkar. I think we created something special here and yes I am grateful to him for choosing me to play the role of Madan Laal Dhingra in Savarkar.

WION: What kind of projects are youlookingforward to working on?

Mrinal: Ilike the kind of projects that challenge you and I think everyproject has a different challenge and a different degree of figuring out to do.I have playedcomic parts, I played a detective on television, and I have played a homosexual character as well. I've tried to do a different kind of things but I think every part has a different challenge. It's about getting to know that person, the challenge is to accept and not judge a character and find the human side of that character. So that is what I try to achieve but yes I think I look for those rolesthat challenge me.

WION: From television to OTT and now being part of big movies like Veer Savarkar. What was it like to work on a project like this, what was your feeling?

Mrinal:I know it's been quite a journey, but I am excited that I have reached here; more passionate, more hungry, and a better version of myself and a better actor. I'm only hungry to do more. When you play a part, be it onTV, web series, or film, it's the same amount of work and dedication. But when we were shooting this (Savarkar)we knew we were on to making something special. Before this film, If you had asked me, 'What are my favourite roles, what are my dream roles that I want to do?' I would have said that I would love to play the role of a revolutionary.I am just grateful that this came to me and what better than that? I am very fortunate that this came to me.