Nik Dodani on switching creative gears for ‘Dear Evan Hansen’
The Hindu
Actor-screenwriter Nik Dodani on being the comedic relief in the stage-to-film adaptation of ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ that premiered at TIFF and his collaboration with ‘Blue Boy’ author Rakesh Satyal
It has been a tumultuous year for Nik Dodani. The actor just bid farewell to Atypical, the series in which he portrayed Zahid, who is best friends with autistic Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist). Dodani looks back on playing a character who re-evaluates his perspective of sex and relationships, moves out of his parents’ home and undergoes treatment for testicular cancer over the course of four seasons.
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Moving on from this formative acting journey, Dodani gets wistful as he tells The Hindu, “It’s obviously bittersweet to say goodbye to Zahid, but I think, ultimately, it was time. The characters got to grow and change; we were fortunate enough to have four seasons which is not common for Netflix shows, especially. The writers did a great job with of writing everyone’s storylines out.” With a chuckle he adds, “I do slip into ‘Zahid’ occasionally, he’ll always be a part of me. I find myself making dumb sex jokes, much more than I did before Atypical. That might stick around for a while.”