Sahil Vaid plays IPS officer SP Amit Verma in The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, streaming on Sony LIV (OTTPlay Premium) starting July 4, 2025. The actor discussed the profound personal and artistic changes brought forth by the role in an exclusive interview with OTTplay.

Sahil Vaid on his role in The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case

How playing an IPS officer left a lasting impact on Sahil Vaid

"I've always believed that the characters I play kind of mould me as a person every time I go out there and play a part. I'm not the kind of actor who's constantly working. I'm not the kind of actor who's got some 500 projects lined up, not by choice, but that's how my life has turned out to be. But whenever I do get a part, whenever I do get this amazing character to play, it becomes a part of my life," Vaid said.

Particularly on the Hunt, Vaid stated that his performance had a profound effect on him. The actor shared, "The Hunt has left a very lasting impact on my whole being; maybe it's because of the discipline that kind of comes with playing an IPS officer. And mind you, it's not the kind of IPS officer that you see in commercial Hindi cinema; it's, like I said, real, detailed, and everything meticulously done."

Sahil Vaid on The Hunt transforming him as an actor

His skill became more apparent when he moved from comedy work to serious investigative drama. Vaid continued by saying, "When something like that becomes a part of your life, your life changes, especially for a guy like me, for whom fun and games was his livelihood. And then this happens. It makes you start thinking of characters, and it starts making you think of performances in a very different way. And then you start thinking, ‘Wait, whatever I have done, was that correct?’ Or there is no correct; there is no right or wrong. But there is evolution. There is this graph that you build, and I think this part has brought me way – there's this huge bump in my understanding of characters as an actor, my understanding of acting as a whole."

Vaid hailed it as a watershed moment, explaining that it was the first effort for which he felt simultaneously appreciative and strangely troubled (in a positive manner). According to him, "It's not one of those happy no's; it's a feeling of being grateful, yet having enjoyed the process, yet feeling accomplished in a very beautiful way. You feel like every time I played a part, I've always thought I could have done better. This is the first time I went into dubbing. And since it's been a while since we packed up, I went into dubbing, and I was like, I cannot believe I have done this. I don't remember doing this. You are getting impressed with your own performance. Sounds like a very self-indulgent statement, doesn't it? But that happened? And it doesn't make you happy; it makes you scared."

Even after all that had happened, the actor still wasn't sure he could pull off the same performance. He shared, "You feel like, wait a second, so I grew as an actor back then. So have I un-grown, or have I, like, retreated? Then you start thinking, ‘Wait, hold on, hold on. I'm out of practice.’ Maybe, maybe that is something that I was really good at. And now suddenly I feel like, ‘No, I'm not good enough right now.’ If you ask me to do the same scene today, I don't know how I'll do it. Maybe I'll pull it off. I don't know. That's the kind of feeling I'm going through."

Watching himself on screen

It seems like someone else's work, even though the actor is watching the show now. Vaid admitted, "I'm as much of a fanboy; believe me, I'm watching the show as a new person right now. So for me, they're all characters. It's not me playing a part in the show. For me, it's all, ‘Wait, when did that happen? Wait, really? Wow.’"

Final thoughts from Vaid revealed, "I think I would give huge amounts of credit to all my co-actors and the director and the whole crew because I think they worked as an exoskeleton for me, and I just came out of the process on the other side fully, like waking up, like, ‘Wait, where was I?’"

Streaming details

Sony LIV will begin streaming The Hunt—The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case on July 4, 2025.

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