John has focused on his body language and adapted to various other techniques to essay the role perfectly.
Opening up about his preparation, John said: “In terms of preparation, it was more of the body language, more of soft spoken. I had to underplay a lot of things. It was a completely new role, in terms of preparation it was more of trying to get into the skin of the character by watching content online.”
“My biggest reference in terms of body language was, from actor Kay Kay Menon who did special ops. His character was something I referred to. The way he would speak and his words and the way he would laugh.”
The series is based on the book – ‘A Ticket to Syria’ by Shirish Thorat. It is directed by Bhav Dhulia, produced by Friday Storytellers and Neeraj Pandey is the Creator and Showrunner. The book attempts to share the story about the insidious operations of the Islamic State, and how the terror group has perfected a cross-country operation that converts thousands to a depraved cause.
‘The Freelancer’ helmed by Mohit Raina, is about an extraction mission where a girl is held captive in the war-torn hostile environment of Syria, and her escape from the world of death.
It also stars veteran actor Anupam Kher, along with Sushant Singh, John Kokken, Gauri Balaji and Navneet Malik, Manjiri Faddnis, Sarah Jane Dias amongst others.
It will air on September 1 on Disney+ Hotstar.