“The greenest of green flags.” That’s one of the messages Rohan Gurbaxani received in response to his character in the second season of Made in Heaven. Gurbaxani, 26, plays Aman, a young man, who grew up in London, and fell in love with Sarina (Zayn Marie Khan), through an arranged marriage setup. In this episode, Sarina struggles with colourism, and desperately tries to lighten her skin in preparation for her wedding. When Aman realises what’s happening, he assures his fiancée that he thinks she’s beautiful, as is.
“It’s interesting because the character is like the voice of the audience, and I’m extremely happy to have played it,” Gurbaxani said. In a climactic moment, Aman confronts his mother-in-law for encouraging her daughter to undergo cosmetic procedures to lighten her skin. Gurbaxani described it as exhilarating to hear from people who appreciated his acting but also dropped messages like, “I really enjoyed you speaking up for this girl, speaking against your mother-in law. I’ve had issues with my skin and I didn’t have someone to speak up for me like that.”
Also Read: How ‘Made in Heaven’ disturbs conventional ideas about marriages
Made in Heaven is Gurbaxani’s debut performance on the web, and one that came unexpectedly. After a couple of smaller stints in the U.S., the New York University graduate returned to Bengaluru in 2020. He started blind WhatsApp-ing around 50 casting directors per day. It landed him three ads and then, an email from Nandini Shrikent and Karan Mally, MIH’s casting directors. He knew landing the role would be life-changing, but he says, with auditions, “You build like a callus. If I don’t get this, it’s fine. You put your sweat and tears into it and hope for the best.” An hour into his traffic-filled drive home from the final audition in Mumbai, he got the call. “It was the first time I’d gotten an answer that quickly.”
Gurbaxani in a still from ‘Made in Heaven’ Season 2
MIH’s storyline is fueled by strong women. The same held true behind the camera too. “I’ve never worked with women who run stuff, like run the production house and the day-to-day, from your script to everything,” said Gurbaxani. MIH is created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti and Gurbaxani’s episode was directed by Nitya Mehra. “I hadn’t really worked with such strong female visionaries,” he said, adding that these are people whose work he’s long been inspired by.
Inspiration, however, has landed the show’s makers in controversy. The fifth episode of the second season follows the story of a Dalit woman who expresses discomfort over her to-be in-laws’ insistence on a traditional Hindu wedding. The character is believed to be inspired by Dalit writer and activist Yashica Dutt, who alleges she was not given due credit. Gurbaxani said, given that he was not a part of this episode, he isn’t sure how much of the character mirrored Dutt. “With MIH, a lot of stories are inspired by certain situations, certain events, certain personal stories. We’re talking about a show that’s highlighting things in order to create change,” he said, adding that the makers are coming from a place of honest intentions and not trying to defame or fabricate Dutt’s life.
Gurbaxani’s acting aspirations really started taking shape when he was in eighth grade. He grew up dancing, earning him the moniker, “Hrithik Roshan,” which carried through into high school. “It was more like a cultivated passion. It wasn’t like I saw a movie and thought, ab main hero banunga (now I’ll become an actor/hero).” He describes his old acting videos as “the worst you could ever imagine,” but adds that he was constantly supported by his friends and family. “[In school,] no one saw me act, but knew that I’ll be an actor one day. That was the crazy part.”
Gurbaxani will star in two projects releasing next year; a role in the upcoming film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan starring Ananya Panday and produced by Zoya Akhtar, and a spot in the second season of Bandish Bandits.
The way things are going now, he says, is like, “a dream that everyone wants. When it happens, you make sure you’re grateful for it, and you make the most of it. I don’t ever take it lightly.”
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