Actor Karan Tacker has, over the years, taken his viewers on an emotional rollercoaster ride be it as the boy next door in the TV series Love Ne Mila Di Jodi or the honest, hardworking cop in his recent Netflix series Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. Karan, whose first appearance in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Rab Ne Bana di Jodi could have been hit-and-miss, has left an indelible mark with his on-screen performances.
A Punjabi boy from Mumbai, Karan has spent a chunk of his childhood in the Capital. While in conversation with us prior to a session at the Invincible Fest at DLF CyberHub, Gurugram, Karan reminisces about his days in Delhi as a young boy, “The first memory that comes to my mind when I think of Delhi is my time at my dadi’s [grandmother’s] house. That is where I spent most of my growing years.” He pauses, and recalls that the petrichor in the city is still fresh in his mind, “I even remember the fragrance of moist soil after it rains in Delhi.”
Between truth and fiction
In Khakee: The Bihar Chapter, Karan portrays the character of Amit Lodha, which—unlike previous fictional roles he’s played—is based on a real-life IPS officer. Talking about the prep work for this role, he says, “I treat all my characters in the same manner. As an actor, I try to find the truth about the character. Whether it is a real character or fictional doesn’t necessarily define my approach to my acting. Eventually, as an actor, you are trying to make the character as believable as possible. Even if I try to portray a superhero tomorrow, I’ll play it in the most convincing way possible. Primarily, all you are trying to do as an actor is to bring out the truth of the character.”
Discussing the give-and-take relationship between the character and the actor, he says, “There is a lot of your own personality you end up giving the character because, as an actor, you use real-life emotions to replicate on screen. While creating those emotions, you find an arc in your own sensibilities.”
Sharing his biggest takeaway from the character of Amit Lodha, Karan says, “I have never been a husband or been in a situation where my family’s life is on the line. After playing Amit’s character, I started valuing real-life relationships more. The other takeaway is the realisation of how hard the people in uniform work. It is a thankless job. The action sequences were real-life incidents.”
Theatre vs OTT
Producer and director, Ekta Kapoor, once stated that movies released in theatres are for communal watching, content on TV is for families, whereas the OTT is personal to an individual. Commenting on this, Karan remarks, “In the present day, anything can be a personal experience and anything can be a communal experience. But definitely, there is a charm in going to the theatre, where you laugh and cry with everyone. In a comedy, when a joke lands and everyone around you laughs, you laugh a little harder.”
A liberating space
With both TV and “movie stars” making the OTT switch in recent times, there has been an ongoing discussion on the nature of this space and the stories shown across mediums. “I feel writing on OTT has become much more interesting than what TV is,” Karan shares, adding, “The spectrum of writing is different for OTT. You get to tell a narrative of six to eight hours compared to a movie’s fast-paced 120 minutes.”
The scope for actors also increases on OTT, concludes Karan, “It [the platform] is liberating as an actor because you have a larger scope to do things, you get to play on your craft more, and enjoy doing it. I am happy that a viewer gets to see me as an actor for say, for eight hours. I do not have the mentality that you should not be very less on visibility. As long as I am qualitatively out there, the more the merrier.”
Quick 5
Favourite place to hangout: Home
Favourite street food: Golgappe
Favourite monument in Delhi: Lal Qila. I also have memories of Qutub Minar.
A lesson that Delhi has taught: There’s always great food here for times when you are hungry!
The song you’re vibing to right now: Aaj Din Chadheya from Love Aaj Kal—for some strange reason this song is stuck in my head.