Ritwik Bhowmik: Nobody achieves success without some help along the way

Ritwik Bhowmik delivered a breakout performance in his well-received Amazon Prime Video show Bandish Bandits (2020). He followed it up with yet another successful show The Whistleblower, which premiered on SonyLIV last year. The actor is happy that the audience accepted him in both roles and promises to maintain versatility in every upcoming project.

Eastern Eye recently caught up with Bhowmik and spoke to him about the kind of appreciation he received for The Whistleblower, the preparation that went into acing the character, what made him fall in love with acting, and, of course, forthcoming projects. Read on…

Your show The Whistleblower garnered an amazing response from across the board. What kind of response did you receive for your performance?

I am absolutely overwhelmed with the kind of response The Whistleblower received. And it’s more than just a feeling of being ecstatic to see what people said about my performance and I must say that I was an absolute wreck and I did not know if people would accept me as Dr. Sanket. I mean, I had blind faith in my director Manoj Pillai about how he was shaping Dr. Sanket and the show. But I absolutely had no idea what I was doing if I was doing a good job or not. I just knew that I was listening to my director and now, after listening to everybody’s response, after the way the audience reacted, I am just glad that I put my faith in him. And the way people have sent across so much love for the performance… I know it’s an absolutely unlikeable character until the arc really changes for him. And for people to shower me with so much love for a character who is not really likable, I think, it’s overwhelming.

The show is based on a scam that took place many years ago. Who is your character modelled on?

The show is based on various real events and not one particular incident or criminal activity. My character was not modelled upon any fiction or non-fiction person. Dr. Sanket was a standout, unique guy written completely out of imagination and if you see the show, you will realize why I keep stressing the fact that it’s a character of fiction. It’s rare to find people like him and even if we do, we don’t really tell stories about people like him, you know, because they are so complex and, most of the time, very unlikeable. But it is the beauty of the art that the writers brought into his character, so the only research, the only modelling I had to do was just follow the text or the script because it was so well written and so detailed. I didn’t have to look outside.

How did you bag the part? Also, how did you prepare for the same?

I got the part because I got a call from Mukesh Chhabra’s casting team and they asked me if I would like to test for a show that was based on a certain subject. And then they told me about the character. I got pretty excited and I tested for it. The director liked it, the writers liked it, the creators of the show liked it and they asked me to get on board and yeah, I became Dr. Sanket. And there was not much that I did to prep for the role, except for, of course, honing the skills of a doctor for the specific scenes where we had to carry out a lot of activities within the hospital, and other than that, I think we had a 500 pages script. For me reading the script multiple times is an extremely important job and it took me almost over a month to read the script. I think it was preparation enough.

Your character in The Whistleblower is completely different from the character you essayed in Bandish Bandits. Was it a conscious decision to take on a role that ensures the audience sees a different you?

It wasn’t a conscious decision to play Dr. Sanket having played Radhe before. Very honestly, it just happened to me. And slowly and steadily turning into a believer of destiny because most work that’s coming my way is so stark different from each other and I don’t have to sit and consciously make choices or strategise about what I need to do and what characters I need to play because everything that’s coming my way is so different from one other that I really think that I am lucky.

Did you ever prepare or appear in any competitive exam? If yes, did you clear it?

No, I never prepared or appeared for any competitive exam. No, I did not. I don’t believe in competing. I truly believe education should be for growth and not the rat race.

How did the success of Bandish Bandits change your life?

The success of Bandish Bandits didn’t really change my personal life but professionally yes. The kind of work that just came my way was absolutely, as I said and I am requoting, overwhelming because for people to look at me in various forms, you know, because every character that came my way was just so different and I am just glad that nobody tried to stereotype me and I am glad that people could see things in me that even I couldn’t see. So, I am glad people have so much faith in me after having watched Bandish Bandits.

How happy are you with the kind of work you have done so far?

I am very happy with the work that’s coming my way. And the kind of work that I have already done, some of it is going to release very soon in a few months and I am extremely, extremely excited for people to watch it because I don’t know because one never knows if they are doing the right thing or the wrong thing. All they know is that they are having fun. You know I was having fun doing everything that I am doing. So once they start releasing, I will get to know what’s happening but, yes, I am extremely happy.

Can you share a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

What brought me to the specific career path? Oh. I don’t know, it was just a feeling. I have always been saying this as a child that I want to be an actor and I remember watching Baazigar (1993) and getting this feeling of absolute ecstasy when I was looking at the visuals and towards the end when Khan Saab's character dies, I was sobbing and wailing and that’s when my mother had to intervene, she had to pacify me and explain to me that what movies are, what stories are and what acting is. I think that just stayed with me forever. I just wanted to become a part of that world.

Not most of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

Oh, most definitely. I don’t think anybody in this world achieves success without some help along the way. I do believe in self-made men and women. I absolutely admire them and get inspired by them and I would like to believe that I am on the same path but there is no way I could have been here without a few people. There are tons of names that I could take but honestly, there are two people that I am just indebted to but I know it’s not a debt, it’s just gratitude. It’s Anand Tiwari and Amrit Pal Bindra, they have been with me for years now and they have supported me, believed in me and here I am because of them.

How did you spend your first acting paycheque?

I don’t remember. I genuinely do not remember. It must have been from an ad I think because most of the time when you are doing theatre, you don’t really get paid, I mean at least I wasn’t getting paid. So, I think the first paycheque I got for an acting job was for an ad and I don’t know, I don’t remember how I spent it. I just remember how it felt like doing that ad.

What is next in store for you?

A lot. I have finished a feature film, diving into another show. I have also finished, oh God, multiple things. But I can’t tell you everything in detail right now. I can tell you that I am coming back with a character in a certain show. I can’t even quote it and tell you. There is a lot coming up, things that you expected, things that you did not expect, things that you would have loved to ask me about but I have already done it. So yeah, right from a film to a show to an episodic to playing a character in a different language show, it’s been absolutely amazing. I can’t wait for you all to watch.