Exclusive Interview! Check out Darsheel Safary's Harry Potter avatar; see pics

As Darsheel Safary picks up a wand to pose for our cameras, he playfully points it forward and pretends to cast spells like Alohomora, Wingardium Leviosa and Harry Potter’s favourite Expelliarmus. The actor grew up watching the franchise and was so enamoured by the magical world of the boy wizard that in one of his interviews back with us in 2008, he said, “I would love to play Harry Potter and have Aamir Khan as Dumbledore.” On International Harry Potter Day, we catch up with the Potterhead as he talks about his love for the magical world.

Darsheel made his Bollywood debut at the age of 10 with the critically-acclaimed film Taare Zameen Par (2008), which was directed and produced by Aamir Khan and had the two sharing screen space. “I reiterate what I said earlier. I wanted to play Harry and wanted Aamir Khan to be cast as Dumbledore because he has been my guiding force in my life. It has been my childhood dream to play Harry Potter, especially because the story is so relatable. For a Potterhead, it was wonderful to escape into Harry’s world,” says Darsheel, who first learnt about the character when he saw the Harry Potter books in his school library.

‘The books are so different from the films’
As a kid, Darsheel started collecting Harry Potter merchandise. He says, “I had a collection of all the seven books, but I gave them away except Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince because that is the first book I read. The books are so different from the films as they are so detailed. I am sure Potterheads would relate to this. I even turned my sister into a Potterhead.”

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‘I am glad that I was able to grow with Harry’
Talking about his obsession with Harry Potter, Darsheel, who was last seen in the film Hukus Bukus, shares, “It was like, if I wanted to be a part of a school, I wanted to be a part of Hogwarts. If I wanted to be a part of a group, it had to be with Ron (Ronald Weasley) and Hermione (Granger). I remember my father tried teaching me chess for a long time. I refused until I saw the scene with a life-size chess board and pieces that could move in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. After that, I asked my dad to teach me to play the game. Harry Potter has been a part of my life for a good 15 years. I am glad that I was able to grow with Harry himself.”



‘Each character in Harry Potter goes through a fascinating journey’
Talking about how he is inspired by Harry Potter’s character arc, Darsheel says, “Harry Potter seems a little lost at the beginning, and others guide him. But at the end of the series, he took the decision to break the Elder Wand, which is the most powerful wand. So, from being lost to finding himself – his character goes through such a fascinating journey. From Hermione and Ron to Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, there is so much to take away from each of these characters.”