Exclusive | Vishal Vashishtha shares how manifestation, dialect training and a strong audition helped him land Glory

Vishal Vashishtha (Instagram)

Actor Vishal Vashishtha recently opened up about his experience playing cop Arvind Shekhawat in the series Glory, calling the character emotionally layered and morally conflicted. In an exclusive conversation with mid-day, the actor spoke about portraying a police officer caught between loyalty, justice, and a flawed system.

Vishal Vashishtha on playing a cop in Glory

Explaining the emotional core of Arvind Shekhawat, Vishal shared, "He is driven by the will to do right by his friend, right by his uniform. But he also sees the kind of influence his higher authorities have, what he calls corruption, and the influence of the politicians they are dealing with and how his work gets inhibited by that."

He added that the character constantly struggles between personal loyalty and professional ethics. "That's why it becomes about friendship. He also has to betray his own system to help fight for his friend, for justice by fighting his own system. It's kind of a back and forth that Arvind Shekhawat's character does."

According to Vishal, the emotional pressure eventually begins affecting the character's personal life as well. "In between that, he has to take care of his personal life too, which also starts spiraling down the road. These are the things that test you as humans, right? And what decisions you take at the end of the road, that matters," he said.

Talking about bagging the role, Vishal revealed that the process happened naturally after Casting Bay's Eklavya approached him with a detailed narration. "For Glory, I can speak right now, it sort of came very smoothly. When the casting had begun, Eklavya from Casting Bay had called and he really gave me a very detailed version of the character," he shared.

On working with an ensemble cast

The actor said working with creator Karan felt instinctive from the beginning. "When I met Karan also, I did not have to think twice if I was doing anything extra or less. He was very clear in what he wanted and I sort of understood it immediately," Vishal explained, adding that he barely had to change anything from his audition performance.

Vishal also spoke about preparing for the Haryanvi dialect used in the show. "I had played around with it before, so I was a little more comfortable. But I wanted to dive deep into this one, so we did. That was fun," he said, calling the opportunity a result of "manifestation."

Sharing his experience of working with veteran actors like Zakir Hussain and Yashpal Sharma, Vishal had special praise for Zakir Hussain. "Some actors are so big, they can just move a finger and control the scene. Zakir sir can do that," he said.

Recalling an intense scene with the senior actor, Vishal added, "We had a scene where we were sitting across a table. If you read the material, it is so light, but it turned out to be so intense. I think it was the effect of Zakir sir himself and the character both."