Idea is to become a bankable actor: Harshvardhan Rane

Actor Harshvardhan Rane, best known for films such as “Taish” and “Haseen Dillruba”, says his goal is to improve his craft with every role and go on to become a “bankable” actor.

In 14 years, the actor has featured in the popular TV series “Left Right Left”, which marked his acting debut. He later starred in the Telugu film “Anaamika” fronted by Nayanthara and entered Bollywood in 2016 with the hit romantic-drama “Sanam Teri Kasam”.

Rane is now looking forward to the release of “Tara vs Bilal”, backed by Bollywood star John Abraham via JA Entertainment.

“I want to work a lot more. I am glad that being an outsider I got to work with the likes of T-Series, John Abraham, Sanjay Gupta, Bejoy Nambiar.

“I feel lucky as an actor, whose first-two movies (in Hindi) have not worked, (and yet) he got these many chances. The credit goes to the audience, they are my employers because of them I am getting the opportunity,” the actor told PTI in an interview here.

He hopes audiences warm up to “Tara vs Bilal”, directed by Samar Iqbal, who helmed Vidya Balan-led 2014 film “Bobby Jasoos”. Also starring Sonia Rathee, the film is slated to be released on October 28.

“I hope people watch the film and like it as that will lead to something different again (for me). And, maybe I will be known as a bankable actor. The idea is to become that…” Rane, who plays Bilal, added.

His last release “Haseen Dillruba” may have shown his grey side, but the 38-year-old actor said he wants to essay “heroic” characters.

“I gravitate more towards heroic roles. I am not talking about visuals. I don’t want to be a visual treat for the audience. I want to connect with the heart of the audience. Longevity is when you connect with people.” The actor also recalled being “scared” of getting typecast as a villain while working on Vinil Mathew’s directorial “Haseen Dillruba”, produced by filmmaker Aanand L Rai and T-Series.

In the 2021 romantic thriller murder mystery, Rane plays Neel Tripathi, who starts an extramarital affair with Rani (Taapsee Pannu), the wife of his cousin Rishu (Vikrant Massey).

“I was very scared and I requested Aanand L Rai sir that I hope it will not look negative. He said, ‘All three (characters) are negative, a married woman sleeping outside of marriage is negative, husband who is harming is negative and you having an affair with a woman is negative’.

“He said ‘It is a story about three flawed characters and that there is no negative or positive’. I felt this is a valid point. I had also told the director Vinil Mathew I don’t want to (be tagged as a villain) as I don’t find that inspiring,” Rane said.

The actor is excited about his upcoming line-up such as sports drama “Miranda Brothers” with Gupta and Hindi-Tamil bilingual “Dange” which reunites him with Nambiar.

Set in London, his upcoming release “Tara vs Bilal” talks about the importance of family, love and overcoming one’s inner demons.

“Our director briefed us that a love story has three phases: pyaar (love), iqrar (confession) and takrar (altercation). They wanted to explore the ‘takrar’ phase hence it is titled ‘Tara vs Bilal’,” Rane said.

Rathee, who is making her Bollywood debut with the movie, said she organically became part of “Tara vs Bilal”. She has appeared in several web series and TV shows like “Broken But Beautiful”, and “Decoupled”.

The actor sent in a self-tape to the makers and auditioned for the role in person a few days later. Two weeks later, she was locked in for the part of Tara.

“I had fallen in love with the script and Tara. It was great to have John Abraham backing it, he has a great eye for storytelling. I am happy and satisfied with the movie,” she added.

Iqbal said the core idea of “Tara vs Bilal”, which follows a man stuck around by so many women, came from writer Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh.

“We wanted to make a story based outside India. These people are Indians by heart but don’t live in India. So, London was the obvious choice, we wanted to explore the desi life there,” the director said, adding that Abraham also contributed creatively to the film.

T-Series and TVB Films are also credited as producers on “Tara vs Bilal”.

Image: Harshvardhan Rane’s Instagram