'Ray': Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor reveals saying 'yes' to anthology without reading its script

After his highly-lauded stint in Netflix's AK vs AK as himself, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor is all set for the release of his upcoming anthology, titled Ray, on the streaming giant this month. Earlier this morning, Netflix India dropped the trailer of the anthology, based on prolific filmmaker Satyajit Ray's stories, on YouTube and announced the Ray release date. Ahead of its release on June 25, 2021, Harsh opened up about bagging his role in the short film 'Spotlight' on a "rainy gloomy" day last year and revealed saying yes "without reading a single word of the script" out of his sheer admiration for the Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota director, Vasan Bala.

Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor in Ray prepped for two months before commencing the shoot

Following the Ray trailer release today, i.e. June 8, lead actor Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor shed some light on his struggle with anxiety last year during the COVID-19 pandemic between completing AK vs AK's shoot and getting roped in for the upcoming Netflix anthology. Along with sharing the trailer of Ray on his Instagram handle, the beloved son of Anil Kapoor also penned an emotional note about dealing with anxiety back then and finding it hard to be optimistic amid the unprecedented times. He wrote, 

It’s hard for me to forget how I felt this time last year. We were locked in with no vaccine, no cure, no immediate resolution & it was becoming increasingly hard to be optimistic. I was anxious & it was raining a lot with no outlet for my energy... things seemed bleak. I’d shot my scenes in AK vs AK but no one had seen them, I’d completely disconnected & couldn’t even picture being back on set with everything that was going on & things crumbling around us.

However, while he was dealing with anxiety, the offer of Vasan Bala's short film, titled Spotlight, came as a beacon of light for Harsh. The 30-year-old also revealed prepping for the short film with Vasan for two months in lockdown via FaceTime. He also expressed making great bonds on the sets of Spotlight with Radhika Madan, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Eeshit Narain and others. His caption read:

They say good things happen when you least expect them to, it was on one of those rainy gloomy days I got a message from @Vasanbala... he said he had something for me & wanted to talk. We got on a video call & I have to admit when he was trying to tell me what this film was going to be like or was about I didn’t get it right away... he just kept saying something about me playing a young actor & kept talking about this character's "look". I honestly didn’t care cuz Vasan has been someone I’ve always wanted to work with. I said yes without reading a single word of the script. What followed was the most incredible 2 months preparing in lockdown and FaceTiming him, reading my scenes aloud & going absolutely crazy enacting them for him alone in my room. It was the perfect outlet for me and my problems seemed to disappear. We got onto set last October, laughed non stop for 2 weeks & just like that the film was complete… it’s hard to predict a film's outcome but I swear I’ve never had this much fun & worked with such incredible people... I met @radhikamadan @iamroysanyal @eeshitnarain @eshtylist @akansharanjankapoor @moragsteyn @dharajain & I hope these are relationships that will last forever.

Check out Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor's Instagram post below:

IMAGE: HARSH VARRDHAN KAPOOR'S INSTAGRAM