“You don’t over-prepare or question it”: Paresh Pahuja on trusting the process

Not every actor willingly walks into stories that are surreal, absurdist and emotionally disorienting. But for Paresh Pahuja, that unpredictability is often the attraction. In Lord Curzon Ki Haveli, where he stars opposite Rasika Duggal and Arjun Mathur, the actor found himself navigating a world that intentionally resisted realism.Rather than overanalysing the material, Pahuja says he approached the film through complete creative surrender. “You surrender to the director,” he explains. “When something is fully driven by the writer and director’s vision, you stop over-preparing and questioning every little thing.”For him, accepting a project like Lord Curzon Ki Haveli already means trusting the complexity of the material. “If you had to constantly question it, you probably wouldn’t take up a subject that complex in the first place,” he says.The actor credits both the director and writer for creating an environment where trust became easy. “They knew exactly what they were making,” he says. “And honestly, I was just happy to work with Rasika Dugal, Arjun Mathur and go to London.”The statement reflects something increasingly visible across Pahuja’s career choices, a willingness to prioritise emotional instinct and artistic curiosity over predictability.