The Hunt actor Amit Sial on learning Tamil: 'Thank God, I could pull it off' | Exclusive

Amit Sial shares the challenges of learning Tamil and adjusting his Hindi accent for The Hunt, crediting co-stars and coaches for their support.

Actor Amit Sial discussed the difficulties of learning Tamil for his role in Sony LIV's The Hunt—The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case in an exclusive interview with OTTplay. One of the most challenging parts of his role, according to the actor, who is known for his realistic and grounded performances, was learning the language.

Amit Sial

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Tamil was an alien language for Amit Sial

"With great difficulty," he laughed, recalling his struggle. Sial stated, "I remember that day and I told Nagesh Bhai, ‘I ratoed (mugged up) and then I forgot the other one. And when I ratoed the second part, I forgot the earlier one.’"

The fact that Sial had no prior experience with Tamil was something he freely acknowledged. "I don’t know what I’m going to do, because Tamil is a completely alien language in the sense that there is no reference in my being to be able to quickly adapt to it. Telugu phir bhi thoda sa samajh mein aa jaati hai (Telugu still can be understood a little bit). But Tamil is very, very difficult. I don’t know how I pulled it off, but I did and I had to, because I would have never been able to forgive myself if I did not do justice to speaking of Tamil."

Hindi wasn't easy either

Thankfully, the majority of the series is in Hindi, which nevertheless posed some difficulties for Sial. Early on, he recognised that his native North Indian accent would clash with the South Indian character he was portraying.

He recalled, "So I worked a little on the twang of my Hindi, because I’m a North Indian. I remember the first day we went on floors, and I was speaking my kind of Hindi, and I was not liking it a bit,” he shared. “I went to Nagesh. I said, ‘There’s something wrong; I’m playing a South Indian, and I’m speaking Hindi like a North Indian. It’s just not sounding right.'"

Sial drew from the lives of his South Indian friends and those in his inner group. The actor shared, "Because I have many South Indian friends, I know that they are trying when they speak to me in Hindi. So I consulted a couple of them and picked up on a twang so that at least I don’t speak Hindi in that way."

Sahil Vaid was a major support

Sial went on to say that his co-star Sahil Vaid was an incredible rock for him. He revealed, "Sahil was so fluent with it. I have known him for a very, very long time now, and watching him speak Tamil so fluently was beautiful and amazing. So he also helped me a lot, and Nagesh Bhai also helped me a lot."

The actor said that a diction coach was always on hand to help with the production's nuanced dialogue. Sial concluded by saying, "There was a diction teacher at hand on the set all the time. So, yeah, there was a lot of help available. And we are where we are now with it."

Despite some early hiccups, Sial delivered a convincing performance that showcased his dedication to being true to the part. All episodes of The Hunt—The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case are streaming on Sony LIV (OTTplay Premium).