Shriidhar Dubey compares Physics Wallah to Super 30: It was tough for Hrithik Roshan as he is good-looking, from Mumbai

Shriidhar Dubey, who plays the titular role of Alakh Pandey in his biopic Physics Wallah, talks to HT about how it was much easier for him to play a physics teacher than it was for Hrithik to play a maths teacher in Super 30.

More than three years after Hrithik Roshan shed his glamorous layers to step into the shoes of a teacher from Bihar in Super 30, Shriidhar Dubey has stepped into the shoes of Physics Wallah in his biopic of the same name. Shriidhar however, denies working hard like Hrithik and says that he was already much like the popular Physics teacher Alakh Pandey popularly known as Physics Wallah, in terms of his background and appearance. He did work hard to understand the subject in order to play a teacher convincingly. Also read: Hrithik Roshan recalls 'traumatising' school days, having a 'bad stammer', crying: 'I was so broken, that I would...'

Shriidhar Dubey in a still from Physics Wallah.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Shriidhar opened up about his journey of becoming Alakh Pandey on screen and why the show caters to a much wider audience then just students of physics. Excerpts:

How good are you at physics?

I am not good at physics but I took interest in the subject as it is related to questions we come across in our regular life. All questions toddlers ask their parents are actually related to Physics. Unfortunately, I didn’t get such a good teacher. I am also from the Hindi medium and was diverted towards arts stream. But I once again got attracted to the subject during the making of this show. Writer Sameer Mishra, director Abhishek Dhandharia, music composer Mohit Mahore and AD Anuj are all IITians. It was challenging to learn words like inertia and centre of mass which I had never heard in my life. They taught me so well that I felt I was among them.

Why did they not cast an IITian then?

Because they had seen my work. Abhishek said he has seen me since his college days. Since it’s a biopic, they wanted the character to be very similar to Alakh Pandey in terms of his voice, the place he is from and how he is as a person. They auditioned me quite a few times.

Hrithik Roshan worked very hard for his role of a maths teacher in Super 30. How did you get into the role of Alakh Pandey.

Hrithik is a very good-looking person and has grown up in Mumbai. He is from a film family. It was difficult for him to know Bihar. He must have understood Bihar and the life of a middle-class man during the making of the film. It was tough for him and he worked very hard.

For me, I come from a similar background as Alakh Pandey. I also have seen things which he went through, so I didn’t have to work hard on it. I have instead lived my character. I didn’t have to work on my body language. Alakh looks like a common man. I worked hard to grasp his knowledge and talent, the confidence he has and the way he gives examples to make his students understand the problem. He makes them understand Einstein and Newton like he was their uncle. I worked hard to not look like I was acting, but as if I was actually teaching the students. The students were also real and used to correct me in equations.

How will the show cater to those who have nothing to do with physics?

Physics is all around you. The questions are there, only a teacher is needed to make you understand the answers. Many teachers make it difficult. This story is on how if a teacher is good, every student can understand the subject. Call it the trend in our society or the way we used to mug up our answers for the sake of marks, we stopped questioning in order to avoid being grilled by the teacher.

Here a person wants to be a teacher but doesn’t know what to do. Because there was a time when teaching was considered best for those who can’t do anything, especially for girls. I have seen in UP, even in my extended family, girls are told to do B.Ed and become a teacher so that they could just go to school for 4-5 hours and be able to look after the family. But she will not be a good teacher if she doesn’t want to become one. If the teacher is good, he can mould the future of thousands of students.

You can also find options of employment like blogging, YouTube in the show. It’s a very inspirational story. If even 100 students are able to do something in life after being inspired from the show, my performance will be a success.

Tell us about your next film Haddi with Nawazuddin Siddiqui. You have earlier worked with him in Raat Akeli.

It is a very challenging film and is going to be a lot of fun. We all are in the role of kinnar (eunuchs). People liked our bonding in Raat Akeli Hai and that will be seen in Haddi as well but in a different style. It took a lot of hard work for this role as it was a very drastic change. When we will reveal our look, you will yourself understand how much hard work has gone into it. The best thing was when we used to see Nawazuddin playing his part, we too got inspired to do it.