EXCLUSIVE | 'PILL' actor Riteish Deshmukh: 'There are some pharma companies that think profits are much bigger than health benefits'

Riteish Deshmukh starrer human drama series, PILL is all set for its premiere on JioCinema Premium on 12th July. Following the gripping motion poster, the platform has unveiled the trailer of the series, which endeavours to unravel the inner workings of the pharmaceutical industry, responsible for our everyday well-being. Produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Movies and created by Raj Kumar Gupta, PILL also stars actor Pavan Malhotra in a pivotal role.

_PILL_  introduces you to Prakash Chauhan, played by Riteish Deshmukh, who digs through the deep-set rot in the Indian pharmaceutical world. The series showcases the process through which a pill reaches an individual, through diverse characters – from powerful pharma industrialists, corrupt doctors, to medical representatives, compromised drug regulators, politicians, journalists, and whistleblowers.

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In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actor spoke about the unfortunate side of the pharmacy industry, working with Pawan Malhotra, and director Raj Kumar Gupta.

Edited excerpts from the interview

On one hand, we see performances like Dhamaal, Masti, Housefull. And then on the other hand, we also have Naach, Rann, and Ek Villain, so I’m sure Pill may not have been very difficult for you as a character.

It was extremely engaging to play this character because it is an engaging story and that is what makes it exciting for actors because you’re part of a particular world, and the character’s extremely unusual from the characters that I played before, very real, honest, emotional, pragmatic, and a common man with a fighting spirit. He’s also a guy who’s working for a a government agency, medical agency, and he thinks it is his duty to stand up against the malpractices in pharma industry. And that inherent honesty is very important.

How would you describe Raj Kumar Gupta as a director?

He is an extraordinary filmmaker. An extraordinary filmmaker not because I have loved his earlier work, extraordinary filmmaker because while I was working with him to understand his approach; his sensibility, his understanding of the craft of filmmaking is so super strong. He looks at realism in a different way where it’s real yet cinematic. It’s cinematic realism. This could have been a documentary but this is not a documentary. It’s a cinematic experience of a subject that deals with real issues.

And how was your prep like?

I think the writing was so strong. And stronger the writing, it simplifies the prep for actors, and that’s what this actually did for me. And, I’m most excited to do this because I had not seen myself look this way or act this way, right from body language the kind of clothes, the hair and inherently try to be honest. You know the earlier films that you said, Masti, Dhamaal, Housefull, these are all characters that are from a make believe world. These are characters you may not see in real life. They are slightly exaggerated characters.

But when you talk about Ek Villain, a common man, I mean, he could he is just a I mean, obviously, you do not see serial killers every time, but I am just saying otherwise if you remove the serial killing part, the demeanor of that guy could be your driver, your peer in the office, electrician or your mobile service guy, he could be any or Zomato, Swiggy guy.

We all were aware about the dark side of the pharma industry, the corruption that exists. But as an actor, while reading the script or while performing the character, how much more did you come to know? And as viewers, how much more can we know?

I think we take our medicines for granted. If our doctor prescribes it, we just take it blindly because we think that he is right. He knows much more than I do. And, I have to just take it 4 times a day, 3 times a day I am just taking it. The doctor also has prescribed the medicine to you because he thinks he knows what it does. We trust him. But, the nexus between pharma and doctors because if a doctor subscribes, you think it is good for you.

There are 4 medicines, why does he choose only 1 medicine to give it to you, when all other 4 give the same results? During COVID also, there was a huge nexus nexus of a particular medicine with the doctors that was apparently shelled up to many many people. So, I am just saying that most of the pharma companies rather many pharma companies are reputed do good work, great work, great for society, help millions from losing lives agree. But there are some who think that profits are much bigger than health benefits to other people who work for profit and that that needs to be kept in check.