When Gagan Arora suffered an ankle injury days before Tabbar’s shooting, leaving him anxious about his association with the project

Gagan Arora became a household name and a youth icon with his hilarious portrayal of Bagga in the web show College Romance. His comic timing combined with his histrionics and good looks, bowled the audience over and he became an internet sensation. He followed that success with stints in other successful web shows like Girls Hostel and gained unanimous praise.

Majorly known for his comic skills, Gagan is all set to break that mould with his portrayal in Sony Liv’s family thriller Tabbar. But did you know that the actor suffered a mishap just a few days before the start of the show’s shoot that left him doubting his association with the show anymore? Well, Gagan opens up about it going down memory lane.

With just six days left for Tabbar to go on the floors, Gagan suffered a ligament tear in his ankle while shooting. But rather than the pain, it was his future with the project that worried him the most as he thought it has now been put in jeopardy. “I’ve had sports injuries before but this was particularly excruciating. But despite the blinding pain, the very first thought that came to my mind was that I had lost this project. The project that was going to help me break the mould I had been put in,” he recalls.

However, Gagan decided to leave everything to the makers and just come clean. “I gathered some courage, picked up the phone and called the director. I came clean about the injury and told him that I would totally understand if they decided to recast me. He just asked me for a couple of hours to get back,” he shares.

And those two hours of waiting proved one of the longest in Gagan’s life. “For those two hours I was so stressed and angry at myself that I couldn’t think of anything else,” he says, adding that finally the call came and all his anxiousness was put to rest by his director. “He told me that they would incorporate the limp into the character and the whole script. The words ‘gratitude’ and ‘joy’ don’t really encompass the feelings that I felt then. I was over the moon, that my director had such confidence in me,” he gushes.

That boost by his director actually enhanced Gagan’s skill and confidence. “Although I was in a lot of pain but his confidence in me really helped and gave me the energy to shoot every day. Thankfully, in retrospect, I think the limp really added to the vulnerability of the character and was a blessing in disguise,” he signs off on a hopeful note.