Alongside Ali, Harshad, for a short term, assayed the role of the fun-loving, suave, romantic Akshat in Amber Dhara. His portrayal of Akshat proved the aforementioned - that he could assay any kind of role masterfully.
Akshat was, in short, charming, and thus very quickly captivated the audience. By then, Harshad had grown by leaps and bounds as an actor, and used this to his advantage. Though he was meant to be the male lead, during the time that Harshad assayed the role of Akshat, the character had not developed fully into the storyline.
Despite this, Harshad was able to make a mark in a show in which he was, at the time, merely a side character. This was a direct testament to his acting ability and the amount of screen presence he commanded. Thought the stint was short lived, he left a lasting impact.
These days, Harshad is seen donning the avatar of the perfect son/brother/husband, Prem, in KDMHMD. A perfect character sketch, Prem is a dream role, for, as with Ali, Prem too forces the audience to love and admire him.
Prem is the perfect son, brother, jeevan saathi..the perfect human being...one in whom his family members see Ram ki chhavi. A pure hearted soul that values his relationships above all else and will go to the ends of the world for his loved ones.
A perfect character sketch, that has been portrayed not only with utmost finesse and uncanny flawlessness, but a deep level of honesty as well. An honesty and sincerity that comes from within. One that only Harshad could achieve, because he undoubtedly shares so many of Prem's qualities, and therefore so much of Prem seems to come naturally from within him. Its hard not to adore, or fall in love with Harshad's portrayal of Prem.
One aspect of Prem's character is that he is soft spoken, subtle, and harbors a quiet dignity. With a role like this, it is easy to exaggerate the character or over-do it. The key however, was to assay the role with delicate sophistication, which Harshad accomplished with utmost finesse and uncanny flawlessness.
What was perhaps, his finest performance till date was the episode telecasted today, 25th February, 2009. This was undoubtedly one of the finest emoting styles in the history of Balaji Telefilms. A Performance that will only catapult Harshad to unprecedent heights of success...A Performance, which had a balanced mix of good and grey... A Performance, where the expressions were flawless.
It was Harshad dominating the frame, ever since his meeting with Rishabh Rampal. The 360 degree turn around, brilliantly portrayed, leaving us speechless. We always though HC could never get Prem wrong. He wasn't getting Prem wrong at all.
He was getting Gaurav acting like Prem ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! From the moment his encounter with RR began....He was just incredible. Harshad didn't miss a beat. From his body language and entonation to his brilliant facial expressions - everything was the perfect blend of the good guy, bad guy, but not really bad guy - just a regular guy with maybe a small flaw...whatever the case, his character has shades of grey now, which is incredible.
His portrayal of indifference towards RR; his not having anything against the Juneja's personally, but needing to go through with this as Gaurav, just for the money; his final rebuttal against RR - that he will not hear anything against the Junejas, and that he doesn't associate himself with the likes of RR...the entire thing, from the word GO was simply incomparable. We have never seen anything like it before, Television has never seen this before.
HC's true unparalleled talent really shone through in his performance today. He was flawless. Having seen him as Karan, Ali, Akshat, and as Prem, we can truly say, 26/02/09 will undoubtedly go in the pages of history as Harshad's best performance 'til date. He delivered an immaculate performance.
Today we can safely say, that Harshad is an actor par excellence. He really has come a very long way since Karan, or even since Ali/Akshat and is among the best on TV today. He has challenged himself and improved on his own skill to utter perfection. In Desh alone, he has now assayed an adarshvadi Prem, and and OTT Gaurav...and now, he will portray a grey character as Gaurav embodies Prem. If this doesn't speak volumes about his talent, then we don't know what does.
25/02/09 superceded all of HC's previous emoting styles. May be it was because of Harshad's own ability to add a dash of his own charm to the character or then May be it was his ability to perfect his previous performances. Perhaps this was the reason why, Harshad's portrayal of Prem became one of the most loved and adored characters on television...Prem had taken off, and it launched Harshad to an even higher plateau, one of more fame, and many many more fans.
So much so that when Harshad's character was brought to an end, pleas and protests of the fans forced the producers to bring him back. Though it is undoubtedly great to have Prem back, the magic of the old Prem is missing, through no fault of Harshad's, of courss but due to the unclear storyline prevailing at that point of time. It seemed as if the creatives themselves werent sure of the direction of the plot and thus the ambiguity of the story created confusion.
Despite that, Harshad hadn't missed a beat since his return; being a director's actor, he continued to assay the role as per the director's wishes. Despite the current dubious storyline, Harshad's emmaculate performance hasn't wavered. HC has portrayed Prem with immense precision and simplicity, and made his way into the hearts of millions.
Edited by mistyeyed_25 - 15 years ago
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