Exclusive! 'The Last Hour': Sanjay Kapoor shares about his character Arup and shooting in Sikkim

Sanjay Kapoor/picture courtesy: PR

Sanjay Kapoor has given a new life to his acting career with films and shows like Lust Stories, Mission Mangal, The Zoya Factor, The Gone Game. The actor is now all set to woo the audience with his acting chops in the upcoming supernatural crime drama - The Last Hour. The actor and the crew shot extensively for the past few months at unexplored locations in Sikkim. In an interview with mid-day.com, Sanjay Kapoor talked about what went into making the show, how his character plays a vital role in The Last Hour, and also shared what it was to shoot in a place that is yet to be explored by the industry.

Here are experts from the interview:

Tell us about your character Arup from The Last Hour, as you are doing something different this time.

Yes, I am playing a cop for the first time; in a career spanning 28 years, I have never played a cop. And the interesting thing is that he is just a cop, he does not have any superpower. He is very vulnerable. He loves his job and is very good at it. He has his own issues with his family and his daughter. That is the kind of vulnerability and layers Arup has got.

Can you share your experience with us about shooting at the new place, the new crew in Sikkim, and what was your perspective while shooting this one?

When I read the script and when Amit came to me for the first time, he narrated the gist for just 10 minutes, and he had already done 3-4 recces of Sikkim. So, I knew Sikkim is just not there for the beauty, it is also a character of the show. It adds a lot of eeriness to the show. It is a very beautiful location, which is very stunning, but Sikkim, being untouched, adds a lot of value to the story. When I decided to do the show, obviously, I liked my character, but I could visualise, and being in this industry for such a long time, you learn with experience. This whole thing about Sikkim, I could just visualise it being shot in there, and how much it will add to the script. So, it was wonderful.

Obviously, it is a beautiful place, and there are two good things about this state - it has really beautiful people, they are so loving and simple. I had a good time interacting with the people in Sikkim. And the second thing is food. When I reached there, after the flight journey and a five-hour-long drive, when I reached the destination, there was hoarding that everything that is served over here is organic. I have never eaten and enjoyed vegetarian food so far in my entire life. After this show, I'm sure there will be a lot of OTT shows and movies that will be shot in Sikkim, and a lot of tourism will increase in Sikkim.

Any difficulties that you faced during the shoot of The Last Hour in Sikkim?

We were there for three months, and it's not easy. We were in a place like Sikkim and we have been to five-six different locations. Speaking about the travelling part, it is in that part of the terrain where there can be landslides. So the journey from one place to another is very tough. The last place where we shot was Zuluk, which is close to the China border, there were no hotels. So the military lets you in to shoot. We were also warned about snowfall. We were instructed like if such a thing happens, leave the place within five minutes because if it increases, it will be difficult for us to get you guys out at least for three days unless the sun does not rise and melts the snow away. As vehicles won't move during the fall, and if the car slips from the mountains, we would go thousands of feet below. So, back of the mind, we had this fear and a challenge. Even if there was a little bit of hailstorm, our conditions would worsen. Every three days you shot over there, and every day we sat in the car and rushed to save ourselves. But God was kind, we could finish our work, and there were no mishaps, so that was a great thing. This was just one of the challenges I have shared. There were many! We shot in a tough location. But they say, no pain no gain. You need to accept challenges and work towards them if you want to achieve have come for! We did not step back, we faced all the challenges.

Give us some details about the storyline as we are exploring supernatural crime thriller

So it's basically a crime thriller that has an element of supernatural. And when we say supernatural, A lot of people mistake supernatural for something malevolent. Like there will be a witch or a ghost or some kind of scare fest but this one is not that. So in this show, there is this character who has power, who has a gift who can see what happens in a person's life when he dies, what happens in his last hour. The character can know what has happened, where did it take place at what time, and that is how the character and Arup get together. So, it's a murder mystery, it's not just one murder as shown in the trailer. There are a lot of murders that have happened after one another, and how they get together, and what happens in their journey to solve these murder mysteries.

As the web space is booming, how are you enjoying this as you have signed multiple projects?

I think so OTT was booming even before that (pandemic), it just got a little more underlined as people are sitting at home. Now you have no other choice but explore OTT. So, yes it is booming. But you know what is the best part about OTT is that there is a lot of new talent, that has come in, very good actors have come in, and there are good technicians that have come in. A lot of great work is happening on OTT. A platform like Amazon has backed such a big project like The Last Hour. There are not single known actors, but still, they have backed the content, and that is what I love about OTT. Some people have taken a bit longer time to make a mark in the industry, but OTT has given them the opportunity.

The Last Hour stars Shahana Goswami, Karma Takapa, Raima Sen, Robin Tamang, and Shaylee Krishen along with Sanjay Kapoor and will exclusively stream on Amazon Prime Video from May 14, 2021, in more than 240 countries and territories.

Also Read: Sanjay Kapoor: I just knew right away that I had to be a part of 'The Last Hour'