Sushant Divgikar is multi-talented and there is no doubt about it. He has lent his voice to Cora, a Regillian recorder in 'Marvel’s Wastelanders: Star Lord', a podcast series presented by Marvel Entertainment and Audible. The podcast also has the voices of actors Saif Ali Khan and Vrajesh Hirjee. Sushant has done a lot of audio work but for the first time, he has played a recorder. It is his second collaboration with Audible.
Sushant told Outlook, "I am doing for the first time something like this which is not a living being. I think it's safe to say that I am Audible's favourite. For the second time, I am playing a fictitious character. First time I played Desire in 'The Sandman' for Audible and again Desire is also something which is basically a desire, an emotion. So, I played an emotion and this time I am playing a recorder. I feel blessed that they gave me these difficult characters to play and it tells that they believe in me. So, for me, that's great because considering I do so much riyas for my voice, I am very happy to play a challenging role."
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2023 has been a great year for him so far as he became the first drag queen to represent India at DragCon in the UK in January. In February, the ex-'Bigg Boss' fame was part of the panel at the prestigious Harvard University India Conference where he spoke on behalf of the transgender community.
When asked how he looks back at his journey, Divgikar said, "I am really thankful and grateful for being here. It has been an adventurous journey for me ( he laughs). I have gone through lots of struggles but I have learned from it and this can't be taught by any college, university or my guru. My life is my biggest guru as it has taught me a lot. So, for that, I am really thankful and who would have thought that a middle-class person like me will play a Marvel character? I am so thankful for the opportunity and also for my journey. If I had made my debut with a Marvel character, then you wouldn't have liked it because what I have achieved for my voice is because of my riyas. You learn all this over the years. I am going to make Bollywood and playback singing debut. I am also making my debut on OTT".
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While talking about the challenges he faced while voicing Cora, Sushant shared, "With this character, I had to face lots of challenges because it's not a human. It's a recorder. For example, it's like Alexa, an Artificial intelligence. So, I had to go into that space and for the first two days, I couldn't do it. When I signed the contract and went to the studio, it took two days for me to feel the character. I recorded two episodes and didn't like it. I requested and recorded the episodes again and the third episode was recorded smoothly. If we don't realise our mistakes, we become arrogant and complacent. I am the biggest critic of myself."
He added, "You have to imagine the entire scenario and all your co-stars are not present. We have to feel the pulse. Like this character is feeling like this, so my reaction has to be like this. As we can't see it, we have to imagine it. So, that is what the challenges are to do something like this."
