Maharani 2: Sohum Shah on playing Bheema Bharti: It's a childhood dream come true

The makers of SonyLiv's popular web series Maharani recently released its season 2. Headlined by Huma Qureshi and Sohum Shah among others, the series has been gathering much love and appreciation from the audiences. The show is created by Subhash Kapoor.

Overwhelmed by the praises he's received for his performance as Bheema Bharti, Sohum Shah shared in a statement that playing such a character was his childhood dream. In the political drama, Sohum essays the character of Bihar's Chief Minister Bheema Bharti, who had to nominate his wife (played by Huma) to be the CM in his place. How things change once his wife becomes the CM and how Bheema vows to get the CM's chair back forms the crux of the story.  

Sohum further shared in a statement that as a child he grew up watching films of Bollywood superstars like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan who are always seen playing larger-than-life characters on-screen. He said that his interest in playing such a character started brewing since then.

Sohum was quoted as saying, "When Subhash Kapoor offered me the character of Bheema Bharti in Maharani, I got to live that dream."

Thanking the show-maker for giving him the opportunity to play such a character, Sohum also shared that he went through a certain amount of transformation to get under the skin of the character.

The actor informed that he had to put on weight, grow a beard, and undergo tremendous dialect training, and during the process, he also had to let go of several projects that he was offered during the time of his preparation for the role.

Now that the second season of Maharani is out and his performance has been much appreciated, Sohum feels glad that "It was all worth it."

Giving the due credit to the writers Umashankar Singh and Nandan Singh who created Bheema as a complex and versatile character, the actor also said, "I am grateful and overwhelmed with the love and appreciation that I have received from both audience and critics."

Sohum is known for some of his earlier films like - Ship of Theseus, Talvar and Tumbbad. The actor will be seen in his next lined-up projects - the film Sanaa and Reema Kagti's upcoming web series.

The show Maharani : Season 2, also features Amit Sial, Pramod Pathak, Kani Kusruti, Atul Tiwari, Kannan Arunachalam among others. You can stream it on SonyLiv and OTTplay Premium.