Keshav Uppal Talks About Playing Gay Character In Hiccups and Hookups

Hiccups and Hookups actor Keshav Uppal opens up about playing gay character and work experience with Lara Dutta and Prateik Babbar 

Actor Keshav Uppal, who was seen in film Dear Zindagi, Amazon Prime’s Love Me Hear Me, ALT Balaji’s series FU.. Ok is currently seen in Lionsgate Play’s first original Indian production series Hiccups and Hookups. It is a light-hearted, colourful series that stars Lara Dutta, Prateik Babbar and others. The young actor gets candid about his role and work experience in the show.

Spilling beans about his role he says, “In Hiccups and Hookups, I play the part of the owner of an art gallery that Lara Dutta works for. I was told that the role needed a classy gay artist/businessman vibe without the typical flamboyant stereotype personality. Director Kunal Kohli and I even had a conversation about what gestures and vibe we wanted to bring on set and he gave me a lot of space to bring in my own movements and gestures before we shot my first scene on my first day on set.”

Talking about the challenges of playing a gay character, he continues, “The challenges were mostly in picking the subtle gestures because we didn’t want the obvious like most of the gay characters have in the Hindi film industry. They’re used as comic relief characters whereas this was just the exact opposite, the character was in a position of power, a young businessman and an art gallery owner, so when to have what gestures was what I found challenging. The prep portion of it included me observing gestures and walks of other people at my gym and society, regardless of their sexual orientation because I wanted something that was not mine but at the same time wasn’t the stereotypical gay personality.”

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Sharing how he landed into this role he added, “I randomly got an audition call from Mukesh Chhabra Casting Company one afternoon and they told me they wanted to audition me for this character called Kirit, who is gay but it is not explicitly stated and I thought that playing gay without being too obvious would be a good challenge for me as an actor.”

Sharing his work experience with Lara Dutta and Prateik Babbar he says, “Prateik and Lara were incredible on set, they brought this amazing energy every time we were in front of the camera or just chatting between breaks. We had some good conversations about acting and shared some funny lockdown stories.”

Lastly sharing about the responses he has been receiving for his role he tells, “I’m actually elated about the response and reviews the show is getting and a lot of people who have seen the show told me that they really enjoyed my performance and the subtlety I performed with.”

Next, he will be seen in MX Player’s show “A Cold Mess” which will release early next year.

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