Performing those action scenes was exhausting but also fun, says Shivraj Waichal of Idiot Box

Every actor dreams of working in projects in different genres, but only a few manage to achieve it in their careers, often after many years. But Shivraj Waichal got the rare and lucky opportunity to work in five different genres in just one project.

"For an actor, this is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Waichal exulted when speaking to Cinestaan.com. "We have five different genres for five episodes. One episode unfolds like a heist thriller film, another is like a South Indian action film, a third is like a musical, so it was fun working in different genres and tweaking your performance according to that genre."

Waichal plays the series lead Aakash, a young man who is desperately seeking to win his ex-girlfriend back.

The series has one episode that is shot like a South Indian potboiler action film. Waichal, who has never done action scenes before, was quite excited about this particular episode.

"This is the first time I was doing an action scene in front of the camera," he said. "Even in [the Zee5 web-series] Gondya Ala Re (2019), we didn't have any hand-to-hand combat. Honestly, it was exhausting but also fun.

"We would rehearse each stunt 10 to 12 times. Though I haven't done any action role in films I was quite acrobatic in my childhood. I had also done plays in my childhood where I had performed some acrobatics like somersaults and stuff. But performing some stunts on stage and doing stunts in front of the camera are two completely different things because you also have to think about the angles and such things while choreographing an action scene for the camera. But that experience really came in handy while I was doing the stunts for our series."

Idiot Box is produced by Theatron, a theatre company that has produced many experimental plays over the past few years. Waichal, who is among the founding members of Theatron, said producing a web-series was a natural progression for them because the digital medium also gives them the chance to experiment that they generally would not get in films and TV shows.

"We have been consistently doing experimental plays and all of our plays were written by our team," the actor said. "But most importantly all our plays were based on original concepts. So we thought if we get some unique concept we can step into the digital medium. That's when Virajas came up with the idea of Idiot Box. We liked it and decided to go ahead."

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Waichal has been active in all four media for the past few years. Asked which medium gives him the most joy as an actor, he replied without a moment's hesitation, "Theatre! Obviously each medium has its advantages, but purely from the actor's point of view, I would say theatre gives me the most joy. I have been doing plays since childhood and the freedom theatre gives an actor you rarely get in any other medium. I can experiment with my acting and with each performance I can add new things to my character to make it more nuanced. You don't get that freedom when performing in front of the camera. Once it is shot, it's final."

Waichal, who was seen on the big screen earlier this year in Sameer Patil's Vikun Taak (2020), has two more films in his kitty. "I'm playing a special character in Digpal Lanjekar's Jungjauhar (2020)," he said. "Shooting for that film was an exhilarating experience. The film is ready and we are waiting for theatres to reopen. And there is another film by Omkar Barve."