Titoudao's Shrey Bhargava Awed By Jeanette Aw's Performance In Mewatch Thriller Come Closer: She Can Do So Much "With Just The Look Of Her Eyes"
Shrey Bhargava won Best Supporting Actor at the Asian Academy Creative Awards for Titoudao: Dawn of a New Stage.
It’s been one helluva 2023, or what’s left of it, for Shrey Bhargava.
One notable highlight is him winning the Singaporean national award for Best Supporting Actor at the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA) for his role in Mediacorp’s English drama Titoudao: Dawn of a New Stage.
In the show, a sequel to 2020 biopic of Chinese opera dowager Oon Ah Chiam, Shrey (“it’s Shrek without the ‘k’ but with a ‘y’”) plays Vijay Kapoor, a maverick horror filmmaker with diva tendencies.
“I’ve also had the privilege of doing a lot of theatre — it’s nice to see theatre making a comeback from Covid — and seeing my TV and theatre work kind of come together this year,” Shrey, 28, tells 8days.sg. “It’s been a fruitful year and nice to just be part of it all.”
The Lucknow-born actor made his showbiz debut in the 2015 reality competition The 5 Search and his credits since include 2020’s This Land is Mine and last year’s Third Rail.
He’s currently in Crack the Case: Mind Hunter, an immersive play which invites the audience to venture into a serial killer’s psyche, as well as mewatch’s Come Closer, a five-part thriller set in the 1980s where he portrays Sgt Manoj, a reticent cop looking into the mysterious circumstances surrounding a chauffeur’s murder.
The prime suspects are the deceased’s employers, a married couple played by — Little Nyonya fans, rejoice! — Jeanette Aw and Qi Yuwu.
Fess up: Shrey Bhargava prepares to interrogate a suspect in Come Closer, which reunited him with director K Rajagopal (Yellow Bird). The two previously worked together on the 2017 short film, Lizard on the Wall. "Raja loves his performances very raw," Shrey says. "He doesn't even put make-up on us."
Here comes trouble: In Come Closer, Jeanette Aw and Qi Yuwu play a couple who are the prime suspects in their driver's murder.
Working alongside the veterans was a thrill, Shrey recalls.
“Look at Jeanette’s performance,” he says. “When we’re working together, it seems like she’s not doing anything — it’s like nothing’s happening. But when you watch it, wow, there’s so much being conveyed, so much is left unsaid with just the look of her eyes.”
Shrey hopes there are more shows like Come Closer which features dialogue in Mandarin, English and Tamil. “It’s a nice blend,” he adds.
“I’ve been blessed to play characters that have all been very different from each other,” he says. “They all have a very sharp mind, they all have something going on in their minds, which is fun to play.”
Is there a character Shrey has yet to sink his teeth into?
“I do want to play more villains,” he says, with a laugh. “I’ve had the privilege to play Good Guys or Sincere Good Guys, except in Third Rail, where my character sort of came alive towards the end, so it was very brief.
"But I would love to play an antagonist throughout a whole series. That would be kind of fun to explore. One of my favourites is Christophe Waltz [as the Nazi tormentor] in Inglorious Basterds.”
Just smile: Shrey with Koe Yeet in Titoudao: Dawn of a New Stage. Once every two months, Shrey also teaches at Haque Centre of Acting and Creativity. There, he imparts craft secrets to budding actors or "people who aren't into acting but just want to be more comfortable in front of the camera".
Elsewhere, Shrey, a graduate of University of Southern California’s acting and film programs, says he draws inspiration from life itself — as the host of the CNA docu-series Talking Point.
“[The hosting gig] is an amazing complement to acting,” he says. “When you’re acting your focus is all on the character and bringing that to life. But when you’re hosting, your focus is anywhere but yourself. You have to focus all on the other people you’re interviewing.”
He continues, “I got a chance to go to South Korea to speak with experts on the advancement of autonomous vehicles, and on other end of the spectrum, I spoke with foreign workers and talk about workplace safety and accidents. As an actor, I get to learn so much just observing them and seeing their experiences. In the latter, it’s people sharing their pain, and in the former, their ambition.
“It’s a real privilege to be able to give voices to all these different stories, but at the same time, my actor’s eyes are never switched off.”
Dynamic duo: Shrey with Noah Yap in Titoudao: Dawn of a New Stage. The two go back a long way: they were both in the Music & Drama Company during their NS days. "We've been friends for a long time," says Shrey. "So to finally act together after all these years was great."
Meanwhile, Shrey also set his sights overseas — Bollywood, to be exact.
“I do go out for auditions when the opportunity comes,” says the Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan fan who moved to Singapore with his family when he was one.
“I am connected with a few casting offices. I think the struggle is that [to be part of] the industry there I have to move there to really dive deep and do it. Same with the US. I was trained in Los Angeles and so do I have connections there as well. I’ve been blessed with work in Singapore so far that making that transition is a bit difficult.”
Watch the first episode of Come Closer here:
Titoudao: Dawn of a New Stage is streaming on mewatch; Third Rail is available on mewatch and Prime Video. Catch the Gala Awards on the Asian Academy Creative Awards Facebook and YouTube Channel from 5pm (red carpet) and 7.30pm (main show).
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