Little known facts about Alexx O'Nell & Disney+Hotstar Special 'Aarya'

Disney + Hotstar special ‘Aarya’ stars Sushmita Sen and Chandrachur Singh alongside Alexx ONell has received a tremendous amount of appreciation from over the globe.

Alexx ONell learnt Bhagavad Gita for his character Bob Wilson who not only adapts it into music but also abides by in life, his never seen before avatar is refreshing and has received good reviews and immense love for his performance.

Here are some intriguing behind the scene trivia during the shoot of the series, we bet you are hearing all of this first!

1. While shooting Aarya together in Jaipur, Sushmita Sen & Alexx O'Nell after-work game of pool lasted so long that they paused it and moved on to table tennis... which was essentially the same story. It seems these two artists are equally good (or perhaps equally terrible) in the game-room.

2. Sushmita Sen & Alexx O'Nell connected over their love of music. In fact, while in Rajasthan shooting Aarya, Alexx shared with Sushmita unfinished versions of his first two singles and music videos 'Still On My Mind' (subsequently released April 2020) and 'Twenty Days' (expected in July 2020).

3. At a surprise outdoor screening of The Godfather, arranged for the Aarya team in Jaipur, Sushmita Sen, Alexx, and Director Ram Madhvani were the only three left watching 'till the credits rolled.

4. Unbeknownst to most, Chandrachur Singh is extremely knowledgeable about Astrology, and while shooting in Mumbai and Jaipur, he made a number of predictions about Alexx, Sushmita Sen and his own futures. Because of the similarities among the three, he predicted a "fundamental change" in each of their lives would take place in early 2020... he could not have been more correct!

5. In order to complete the series for a lockdown release, the main cast of Aarya dubbed from their respective homes. For Alexx that meant recording from three different locations including his home in Mumbai, his 14-Day quarantine location in The Netherlands, and finally his residence in Holland.

6. Aarya is based on the Dutch Series Penoza, which was incredibly successful in the Netherlands where Alexx has a home and stays whenever possible between shooting. In fact Alexx is a dual national, holding both American and Dutch citizenship, though he considers himself "Half Dutch, Half American, and Half Indian". He was, however, careful to avoid seeing any of Penoza both while shooting Aarya, as well as after, because he "didn't want the Dutch portrayal of the story to affect my performance, nor my assessment and enjoyment of the finished series".

Hotstar Specials presents Aarya, starring Alexx ONell and Directed by Ram Madhwani, is now playing on Disney + Hotstar VIP .

Alexx O’Nell learns Sanskrit for Hotstar Special 'Aarya'

Asking him about his new series 'Aarya', and the importance of the Bhagavad Gita featured therein, is enough to get American Actor & Musician Alexx O’Nell to grin and recite a couple of Bob Wilson's favourite Sanskrit Shlokas from memory. And if prompted, perhaps he'll even explain to you their meanings!

Whether it's English or Hindi, Tamil or Portuguese, performing in various languages is nothing new for the actor. Nor is it a trend set to end any time soon, if looking at his upcoming releases is any indication – they include ‘Golondaaj’ (Bengali), ‘Roohi Afza’ (Hindi), and ‘Dr. Rakhmabai’ (Marathi) among others.

Alexx Reveals: “When I'm not preparing for a specific role, I use audio courses to improve my general Hindi speaking competence since, besides English, that's the language I use most.” He further explains; “I combine it with my physical exercise so that while I'm working out, I'm strengthening my language skills as well.”

That usually means between 8-10 km of running daily (preferably on the beach), which takes about 1 hour, during which he's immersed in interactive Hindi audio lessons.

However, when preparing for his projects, Alexx devotes that time to the specific dialogues within the screenplay that he anticipates will be challenging; And for Aarya, that included, for the first time, “a whole lot of Sanskrit”.

This out-loud audio repetition regimen is one of the final stages of his dialogue preparation, which often includes breaking unfamiliar words all the way down to their syllables. “I don’t want to leave anything to chance since even the slightest mispronunciation can distract the audience, and keep them from staying truly engrossed in the moment.” He says.

To help Alexx prepare for the role of Bob Wilson, Aarya Director Ram Madhvani actually gifted him not 1, but 3 copies of The Bhagavad Gita, and assembled a team that would help him through it.

"Having previously learned to read and write Devnagri was helpful, but even so, I would say that memorising these beautiful Bhagavad Gita Shlokas took me about 50 hours in total... they’re so embedded in my memory now, that I sometimes find myself reciting them unconsciously, like a song that's stuck in my head” he adds. And there’s a good reason for that...

Bob Wilson, like Alexx himself, is a musician. And because Music Director Vishal Khurana adapted the Bhagavad Gita to music for the project, instead of just repeating ‘dry’ text, Alexx was able to sing along while memorising the passages.

“Language is itself naturally musical, especially Sanskrit” he explains, “but when you add a layer of melody to the lines, it makes the task of learning them so much faster, and infinitely more enjoyable”.

Meet the Bhagavad Gita reciting Bob Wilson in Hotstar Specials presents 'Aarya', starring Alexx O’Nell and Directed by Ram Madhvani, on Disney+ Hotstar VIP from the 19th of June 2020 !

And see Alexx's Debut Music Video 'Still On My Mind (Feat. Shama Sikander)' Out Now at YouTube/AlexxONellMusic !