Meet Sundeep Hemnaoni - The Lead Villain In The New 14 Language Serial Titled Swarna Khadgam

Exclusive Interview

Sundip Ved has done all the hands on work an actor is supposed to do - he is an anchor, actor and voice artiste (from Mumbai) with about 12 years of experience in theatre (in fact he is very well known in the local hyderabad theater scene) and media. Sundip has been part of movies like Janatha Garage, Bobby Jasoos and the recent box office smasher Raazi. 

Sundip is a known face largely because of  the show "Bet You Didn't Know" from BookMyShow, India's biggest online ticketing company. His biggest day is yet to arrive when audiences will see  him play the villain in the upcoming Telugu TV show 'Swarna Khadgam' with Arka Media (the producers of Baahubali) .

Q -  Sundip lets start with the biggest thing in your career today Swarna Khadgam , tell us about it ?

It's the most prestigious and ambitious show on South Indian Television. The biggest names have come together to helm this magnum opus. They wish to bring back the folklore genre on the Indian TV screen in the best fashion possible. In the past, we have seen several South Indian movies dubbed into Hindi on TV but this is for the first time in history that a Telugu TV show will be dubbed and aired in Hindi almost simultaneously. Over all, the show will be dubbed and telecasted n 14 Indian languages. It's not a difficult guess that Arka Media plans on creating history once again just like they did with 'Baahubali'.

Q - wow , that does sound big so how did you end up getting the role of the main baddie here ?

When I was first offered a Telugu TV show, I was a bit reluctant, as I'm settled in Mumbai now. But as soon as I heard the name Arka Media, I jumped with excitement. I auditioned for the character in Mumbai and gave it my all. I interacted with the director, Yata garu, for the first time that day and I understood that he knew exactly what he wanted from his actors and that got me really excited to work with him.

I soon got a confirmation call and had to immediately start working on my physique - as all my scenes are bare chested. I later came to know that they had auditioned almost a 100 actors for this role. But after auditioning me, the director had immediately instructed his team to stop auditioning any further. It was one proud moment for me!

Q The looks of Sirotkhanda are menacing tell us about the preparation that went behind the scenes

Prepping for the character involved long sessions of make up and costume trials and rehearsals... But we wanted to leave no stone unturned to make Sirotkhanda look the best (technically, the worst)! 

It takes about 2 hours to get ready every day and it's a game of patience I must say. It includes make up, body paint, prosthetics, costumes and accessories. I'm one of the first people to reach the set every day! 

Q - so how is Sirotkhanda like? how did you shoot for it ? can we know more the readers would love to know !

Shooting for the show was a different ball game altogether... The character and his mannerisms are extremely loud, very different from anything I've done till date... But thankfully it was the expert guidance of Yata garu and my theatre background (I've done about 10 years of theatre with Sutradhar theatre group, Hyderabad) that helped me transform into the character. My character's catch phrase is "Dhoom Dhit" and it was on everyone's lips on the set within no time!  I hope we get the same reactions from the audience. 

Q - Arka media is known for its production values so we are sure Sirotkhanda would have got a huge mogambo kind of den ?

Sirotkhanda's cave is a huge set and most of my scenes are in it. When I saw it for the first time I was awestruck. It's a 2 storey set that has several fire emitting statues, skeletons hanging everywhere, an acid pool right in the centre and even a huge water fall! I had seen the magnanimous sets of Baahubali on screen but never imagined that I would act in a set as huge as that exclusive to my character only! Dreams do come true...

Q - anything which is important in the context of Sirotkhanda here ? / So how is your character Sirotkhanda important to the story line of the show?