It was Ashish Sharma’s love for literary works and poetry that led to his titular character Prithvi in the serial Prithvi Vallabh embrace poetry, too.
Writer-producer Aniruddh Pathak knew about Ashish’s penchant for writing poems, so when they were developing the character, they saw to it that Prithvi has a creative bent of mind. Not only that, Ashish’s poems are being used in the historical! Says Ashish, “My father Ashwini Sharma is a poet and I took up to him. I have been writing poems since my childhood, but never took it seriously. Lately, however, I have been compiling all of it,” says the actor. Is it because of the serial? “No, for the show, a lot of it is improvisation. Usually when I go on the set, something comes to my mind and many a times I also change my lines into verses. My character is inherently a poet inspired by nature. His poems are about life and philosophy,” he reveals. Ashish, on the other hand, writes poems about things around him and the way they can be.
Physically, too, the actor underwent a complete transformation. “Usually the kings that are shown in our serials are referenced from Greek or Western emperors, but for Prithvi, we went by how our kings are depicted in books and calendars. I got rid of my lean look, the six pack abs, and piled on weight to get a bulked up physique,” he says. For this, Ashish changed his diet and exercise routine. He included more of surya namaskars and sit-ups. “I am more into contemporary alternate workouts, but for this role, I went all desi and did exercises that are usually done in the akhara. In my diet I had to incorporate a lot of carbs,” he informs.
Interestingly, the actor who gained popularity with Rangrasiya, has been doing a lot of period dramas, lately. He was earlier seen in the mythological Siya Ke Ram and historical Chandragupta Maurya. “I have always loved history and more importantly these serials give a lot of scope for male actors to perform in an otherwise women-oriented TV medium,” he signs off.
