Exclusive- Gautam Rode talks about his evolution as an actor and exploring OTTs

State of Siege: Temple Attack released on Friday (July 9) on Zee5 and has opened to rave reviews all over. The espionage thriller stars Akshaye Khanna in his first digital project besides Gautam Rode, Vivek Dahiya and Sameer Soni in its lineup.

Gautam Rode, who played an NSG commando in the web original, recently interacted with OTTplay and shared his experiences of working in the film, another project where he collaborated with his wife Pankhudi and his upcoming series as well. Read on…

The actor says it was the real-life hero Lt. Col Sundeep Sen who helped the actors perform their parts perfectly. “He helped us out a lot, in terms of training, and did a workshop with us. He taught us how to walk, how to hold a gun and shoot, and how to do one-to-one combat. It became easy for me to play Major Samar.”

Ask him about his experience shooting the action sequences in the film, the actor replies, “That was great! Shooting in a real-time location was exciting and more so, the best thing about the film is its realistic treatment. Our director Ken Ghosh kept everything quite real and did not try to take any cinematic liberties. He made the film how it’s supposed to be with the help of Col Sen.”

Further elaborating on his character, Gautam told us that he prefers quality to quantity. “I don’t aspire to be in every frame of the film, if I’m playing an impactful character then it’s enough for me. The ascending graph of a particular character interests me,” the actor added.

Talking about TV serials tending towards the OTT to release their sequels, Gautam opined, “I see them as two different platforms. OTT and TV are different in terms of how they get shot and executed. They are different mediums and don't have much in common.”

Discussing his priorities among OTT contents, films and TV serials, Gautam said, “So it doesn’t work like that, that today I would like to do a film or OTT or television. It all depends on the project and how interesting it is? I’ve done quite a lot of television and a few films as well, now I would like to explore OTT. And that’s the future!”

Talking about his upcoming romantic single with his wife Pankhudi, the actor calls the shooting experience in Kashmir 'wonderful.' “Jannat hai wo jagah (that place is heaven). I’ve shot there a couple of times but for Pankhudi, it was the first time. And because I was shooting with my family (wife), it was comfortable and fun. The romantic video will be out very soon, in fact within a month.”

Opening up about his projects post State of Siege: Temple Attack, the Saraswatichandra actor divulged to Ottplay, “I’m currently working on a web show for MX Player which will be out next month. It will be my first digital series, while the State of Siege is my first digital film. The kind of character that I’m playing in this upcoming show is quite different and I’m very excited about it,” he signed off.