Playing a Pashtun lord

Actor Mukul Dev is making a comeback to fiction shows a decade after Kaal Chakra. The actor will be seen playing the main antagonist, Gul Badshah, in the historical show 21 Sarfarosh: Saragarhi 1897. He will essay the role of a tribal Afghan lord who hails from the Pashtun mountain belt and fights for his land. To get his accent and pronunciation right, the actor took lessons from his father.

Says Mukul, “Being from Delhi I have been exposed to Afghan culture. Also, my father pretty much knows how to speak in Pashtun and Persian so I got my basic pronunciation from him, but it’s a Hindi serial, so I have done a mix and match.” The actor is also learning horse-riding for the show. Apart from that there is a lot of emphasis on his look — long kaftans, salwars, a tribal pagadi and surma in his eyes.