Shardul Bhardwaj reacts to being selected for BAFTA Breakthrough: ‘It serves as a pat on your back’ | Exclusive

Recently, Shardul Bhardwaj, who is popularly known for his performance in movies like Kuttey and series like Trial By Fire, was selected in the top ten BAFTA Breakthrough talents from India. In an exclusive chat with DNA, Shardul Bhardwaj opened up about being selected in BAFTA Breakthrough Talents and talked about the response to his last film Scavengers Of Dreams. 

Talking about how big a validation is being selected in BAFTA Breakthrough, Shardul Bhardwaj said, “The more I think about it, it’s an honour, privilege but validation I am not too sure of. The first thing that comes to mind is the list I am part of, I mean look at Satya’s work, and there are so many people in there. These guys are one of the finest and being on a list like that, before any kind of validation, it’s an honour. I grew up watching his work Satya's work in film school.” 

When asked which one of his work will he credit for receiving the honour, Shardul said, “I don’t know which one should I credit, but it’s up to BAFTA to credit. I am very grateful to people like Guneet Monga and Shaunak Sen, again, Shaunak Sen is someone I have known since undergrad college, but much senior to me, to see the work he is doing gives me a lot of pleasure, it’s up to them to credit my work or not.”

Talking about which role has been the most challenging for him, Shardul said, “I really don’t know, right now I am doing a film called Test. It’s an independent film and I think hardly such films are shot in Bombay anymore. Everybody on the set is doing everything, so the shooting conditions are generally very challenging.” 

He added, “Whether it’s Eeb Allay Ooo!, Scavengers of Dreams or the upcoming film We Don’t Have Photos together, the shooting conditions are challenging because we have very little money, no one backing and really like, making this cinema is really tough this time when there are hardly any buyers for mid-budget films. So I think I am attracted to projects which give a strange butterfly-like feeling in my stomach when I read the script. They all seem daunting in the beginning. So I can’t rank anyone of them.”

Talking about the response to The Scavengers Of Dreams, Shardul said, “We got a very hearty response around the world and here we also exhibited at MAMI, to home audiences in Mumbai and it’s sad but it has a universal appeal because, in no corner of the world, we have an Egalitarian Society, so people could relate to it. 

Shardul talked about what attracts him to independent cinema and said, “I have done Kuttey and I am pretty proud of it, doesn’t matter what it does at the box office. Trial By Fire was successful on Netflix and I enjoyed the process of making Kuttey. So It’s not like I am boxing myself as somebody who only does Independent work. The thing is some people want to make things in a certain way which speaks to form and grammar. And newer voices are coming who want to talk about different grammar in that medium and that’s attractive right because you want to look at different genres. I am generally on both sides.”

When asked what impact the recognition would have on his career trajectory, Shardul replied, “I do my job, I love doing what I do and I think I am still learning. I am very happy about not being very recognised while walking on the road. I don’t think any expectation or anything of that sort will build up. Maybe some people could be expecting but I don’t know about it and these prestigious pats on your back serve to reinforce the fact that doing what one has been doing is maybe in the very right way forward, without getting too pressurised about what the market says or what the trends are.” 

Shardul Bhardwaj will be next seen in an independent film by first-time filmmaker Rahul Mandal and he also has an independent film We Don’t Have Photos Together helmed by Ramana Dumpala, who’s a National Award winner in the pipeline.