Ravii Dubey on using prosthetics for 'Matsya Kaand'

In his over 15 years long career, Ravii Dubey has entertained the audience by portraying various roles on-screen, but what can be called a big milestone in his journey so far was his recent performance of Matsya Thada in MX Player's "Matsya Kaand". The actor played a con man in the series and portrayed over 11 characters. While he was Ranvir Chaudhary in one episode, he was seen as Aziz Ansari in another, and Ravii calls it the most satisfying feeling as an actor.  

"There is no bigger gift an actor can get than to step in a new pair of shoes, to embody a character and to do justice to it, and in this show I had 11 opportunities to do that. Being a con man and a master of disguises, in every episode, there was a new look to shoulder, which also meant that to justify that look, one had to have a different dialect and a different body language. So it is definitely the most exciting thing I have done in my career so far. And I only hope and pray that this point onwards, things get more exciting for me as an artist because it really kept me on my toes throughout the journey of the first season of 'Matsya Kaand' and I'm so grateful that the audience received it so well," he said.  

He recalls watching Kamal Haasan's 1996 movie "Indian" in which seeing an individual transforming into a completely different person using prosthetics got him very excited. So when he had the opportunity to use it for the eleven different characters he portrayed in the show, Ravii couldn't be any happier. But he confessed that it was no easy feat. 

"I remember watching Kamal Hassan sir as Senapathy in Indian and as an audience I was blown away, with the grace and power with which he played the character. He will be an eternal reference point for whoever attempts prosthetics in the Indian entertainment industry. Prosthetic is a challenging process because you take around four and half hours to get to the perfect look, but the real test starts after that because then you have a completely new face glued to your face and whether it's an itch or sweat or any irritation that you may be facing on your real face, you really can't cater to it. You don't feel like talking much, you don't feel like eating much, your speech is restricted, and you can only have a few sips of water. So you hit a new yardstick of patience and I feel it is in a way therapeutic," he said. 

"You are challenging yourself throughout the day, temperamentally trying to keep yourself in check. But it is still something that keeps you excited and motivated because the end result that you are able to achieve on camera is so fantastic that you are willing to do it all over again. We did around 20 to 25 days of prosthetics altogether in the show, and I remember doing another web show where the entire schedule of the show was only 25 days and in 'Matsya Kaand' we had 25 days of only prosthetics. So even though it's extremely difficult, it's very gratifying and of course, the audience's response is even bigger and even better, and it makes all the hard work worth it," he added.  

"Matsya Kaand" is slowly inching towards gaining 100 million viewership on the platform and the actor is very happy with the way the audience has received the show.  

He said, "The numbers are increasing every day and it's very gratifying because all of us collectively put our best foot forward in this. We all are waiting with bated breath to see the hundred million number on the platform before we hit the one-month mark."  

The actor has a lot of gratitude for his team and credits them for the show's success. 

"This kind of a show is entirely a team's effort, whether it is the team from the platform, or my makeup team, who patiently kept doing that makeup on my face for four and half hours every day and took care to remove the makeup so that it doesn't cause any kind of damage to the artist, and even my co-actors, like Ravi (Kishan) bhaiya, who is like an elder brother to me, or Piyush Mishra ji, who is a mentor to me on and off camera as well, or my director and my DOP and all the technicians, I owe the team of 'Matsya Kaand' the entire credit of the success of the show and I can't wait to get on the floor again with all of them in the second season," Ravii concluded.