The trailer of Abhishek Bachchan's upcoming film 'Kaalidhar Laapata' has been released on OTT. In a scene, a 14-year-old child tells Abhishek, 'Every relationship has an expiry date, learn to live for yourself, do what your heart desires, as Bachchan has said, "Hum jahan khade hote hain, line wahin se shuru hoti hai."
Daivik Baghela, a young talent from Bhopal, portrayed a coveted role as Abhishek Bachchan's friend in the film after outshining 700 other children during auditions. Bachchan personally mentored Daivik, helping him perfect his dialogue delivery for the screen. Despite this being only his second film, Daivik brings considerable acting experience, having portrayed various characters in 25 stage plays prior to this breakthrough role.
In a special conversation with "Dainik Bhaskar," Daivik shared about his acting journey and experience of working with Abhishek Bachchan...
First theater performance at age 4
Daivik Baghela's journey into acting has humble beginnings in a government scheme flat in TT Nagar, where he lives with his father Sharad, a private sector employee, his homemaker mother Archana, and his four-year-old sister Radhya. His father's passion for theater inadvertently paved the way for Daivik's acting career. Sharad, who pursued theater as a hobby, would regularly take his family to watch plays, unknowingly planting the seeds of performance art in young Daivik's mind.
A pivotal moment came when four-year-old Daivik accompanied his family to a play rehearsal.
Daivik's father said "In 2011 when Daivik was born, I hadn't thought about what he would do in the future. I used to do theater and would often take the family to watch plays in the evening. When Daivik was 4 years old, we went to watch a play rehearsal. There the director said let's give him a role, there won't be any dialogues, he just needs to sit with the actor.
The first time Daivik went on stage, he was calm and normal, and he enjoyed it too. After this, he started doing small roles. When we weren't doing theater, we would often go to watch plays. I would tell Daivik how we would perform if we were doing this scene. Gradually, his training continued like this. I kept teaching him whatever I had learned while doing theater."
Film with Varun Dhawan got stuck, then got Kaalidhar Laapata Kaalidhar Laapata is not Daivik's first film. Before this, he got a film in 2020. This film was with Varun Dhawan, and the agreement was also signed. Meanwhile, COVID came and everything got stuck when lockdown was imposed one day before the film's shooting was to begin. Sharad says that by the age of 8, Daivik had done more than 25 plays, then we started giving auditions. These days almost all auditions happen online. Information about this is available through social media.
'I got selected for the movie on my birthday' I am connected to many groups of artists and casting directors. After getting information from there, we gave auditions. Similarly, I came to know that auditions were happening for the film Kaalidhar. Daivik gave the audition. Daivik says that November 12 was my birthday. One day before, when I returned from school, Papa said get ready, we have to go to Mumbai for a look test. I had been shortlisted for the film. We all reached Mumbai and that day my birthday was celebrated in Mumbai for the first time.
Junior Bachchan is fond of football and cricket Daivik shared that after a 15-day acting workshop, one day I was taken to Abhishek sir's office Janak located behind Jalsa (Amitabh Bachchan's house) for script reading. Abhishek Bachchan sir and Director Madhumita ma'am were present there. As soon as I entered their office, I saw many football players' jerseys framed and hung on the walls.
All had players' signatures on it. When I asked, he told me that he is very fond of football. I told him that I want to meet Amitabh Bachchan sir, he said he just left five minutes ago for KBC shooting. After this I saw Amitabh sir from a distance, but didn't get a chance to meet him. After this our shooting began.
Abhishek Sir taught the nuances of acting We did script reading together in Abhishek sir's office, then Abhishek sir explained how script reading is done and what its intricacies are. Madhumita ma'am and sir explained that film shooting is different. In theater you have to speak loudly, while in films you speak in normal voice, even if you speak softly the voice will be captured. They also gave tips on how to do natural acting for films.
Shooting happened around Bhopal More than 60 percent of Kaalidhar Laapata film's shooting took place in MP, with most shots in and around Bhopal. Daivik's father Sharad says, the shooting began at Bhojpur Temple and many scenes were filmed in nearby villages. Additionally, shooting took place in Salamatpur and Orchha. Besides this, some scenes were also shot in Palghar and Film City in Mumbai.
Daivik said that being around Bhopal, it didn't feel like he was away from home, everything went smoothly. He got the opportunity to spend 60 days with Abhishek Bachchan for the shooting of this film. During this time, he had many good experiences. During the shooting, whenever I was sad, he would try to make me laugh. Sometimes he would shake my chair, and sometimes he would pick me up and start running.
'Abhishek sir was very caring' In one scene of the film, we had to bathe in a pond. It was winter time and the pond water was very cold. We did the scene, Abhishek sir made sure that I come out of the water as soon as possible. As soon as the director said cut, he immediately got me out and started wiping my body with a towel himself. There was a hair dryer kept nearby. He turned on the dryer and started drying my hair, he kept doing this until I was completely dry.
