‘Industry’ Star Sagar Radia Breaks Down Rishi’s Literal Fall From Grace and His Fate After Episode 4
Note: This story contains spoilers from “Industry” Season 4, Episode 4.
After “Industry” Season 3 saw Sagar Radia’s Rishi endure a high-stakes pressure-cooker as his life deteriorated amid accumulating gambling debts, Season 4 introduced viewers to a stripped-back version of the character, whose only goal is survival.
“This felt like … the peeling back of a character who’s been hiding in plain sight for years,” Radia told TheWrap. “You think you know Rishi until you see what it looks like when all that noise around him stops — that was interesting to play because arguably that’s more challenging — he’s running on instinct more than he is confidence. I guess the best way to look at it is that he’s not trying to win anymore — he’s essentially just trying to survive.”
While our first glimpse at Rishi this season saw the previously high-achieving stock trader doing some under-the-table and less-than-legal information gathering for Myha’la’s Harper — who seems to be one of Rishi’s only allies after his wife’s murder in the Season 3 finale — what’s left of his life comes to a head in Episode 4, when Rishi’s night of partying with Jim Dyker (Charlie Heaton) takes a shocking turn after Jim overdosed on drugs Rishi gave him.
Just as he makes this realization he answers his door to find the police answering a noise complaint, pumping Rishi into his ultimate survival mode as he heads to the balcony in an attempt to escape, which Radia notes is always how he’s dealt with his problems, “He’s a grifter in that sense … he knows how to try and get away.” But, Radia notes, also hidden in that moment of the jump was a suicidal aspect as well.
“When he’s hanging over that balcony, I think it’s a bit of both [desire to escape and end it all],” Radia said. “I think in moments, he wonders whether he should just call it a day, and he deserves everything that happens to him. But I think the survival instinct in all of us as humans would be to try and just get away, survive and live for another day.”
For better or for worse, Rishi survives the fall, though his arrest by the police is swift given that his legs are obliterated by the jump. His capture marks an end for Rishi in “Industry,” prompting a bittersweet goodbye for Radia, who has played Rishi across four seasons of the HBO financial drama series.
“You never don’t want to be part of a successful show where you get a character like this — I would have loved to have stretched it out more and maybe seen him in jail, and some other bits like that,” Radia said. “It would have been really interesting and a new environment for Rishi, but … the boys decided that this was a moment where they felt like it was a good, creative ending for them, for Rishi. So then it was like, ‘OK, how do we, how do we go out with a bang?’ This was the way to do it.”
Below, Radia breaks down Rishi’s turbulent Season 4 and bids farewell to “Industry.” This interview was edited for length and clarity
TheWrap: Your character had an insane arc last season. Looking back, what did you make of that arc and shooting those traumatic and stressful episodes?
Radia: I kind of enjoyed it. You know, it was, it was traumatic and stressful in all the best ways possible. Actors can go their whole life trying to have an episode like this in TV or film or theater, or whatever it may be. It almost felt like a film within a TV show. I was relishing the opportunity to do that, and I think up until that point, I don’t think I’d really had a chance to almost flex my muscles on the show, so I was so grateful that they trusted me to do that. For a supporting character to be given an entire episode is arguably a risk whoever that is, so for them to trust me to do it, and then secondly, for people to respond to it in the way they did and just took to it, and some of the great things that have been said about it, hopefully means it was a risk worth taking. Truthfully, I didn’t actually anticipate the response to be what it ended up being. I kind of thought it would be this episode that would come and go like, Okay, nice little break from Yasmin and Henry Muck and Harper …. it kind of took on a life of its own.
Did you think Rishi could come back from that? What were you expecting for your storyline in Season 4?
I don’t think I was expecting anything. I just kind of thought, well, if it was meant to be, then it is, and if it’s not, then it was a great way to go. I sat down with the boys, and they spoke to me about what they foresaw for Rishi this year, and how it was going to be a different version of a Rishi than we used to and and that’s exciting in its own way, and comes with its own challenge.
He’s rock bottom and rock bottom isn’t always about darkness, which I think is what it’s associated with a lot of the time. For Rishi’s case, it was more about honesty in a way that he’s never been so before. I’ve never played Rishi this quietly, and he kind of loses that humor, and he loses that swagger that … Rishi was always used to filling a room with noise and playing that silence was kind of revealing in its own way. Grief, for Rishi anyway, doesn’t come out in tears. It comes out in silence and in bad decisions and and in survival mode.
What do you think those weeks and months after his wife’s murder looked like and how did he end up where he is when we see him in the Season 4 premiere working with Harper?
He’s still functioning, and he’s still showing up, whether it’s for Harper or whether it’s for Eric and, well, both of them … you could argue Harper’s taken advantage of that. On the surface, he’s trying to keep it together … but underneath, he’s kind of recalibrating who he is. He’s not chasing that status or power anymore. Essentially, he’s just trying to stay upright. and in order to stay upright, he needs someone to kind of keep him there, and Harper and Eric — they’re not holding him up, but they’re just giving enough weight that allows him to stand up a little bit and and tread water, is the best way to describe it. They don’t allow him to drown, because they don’t want to be responsible for that.
Episode 4 sees Rishi have this ultimate fall from grace. What did you make of this crazy night and what was it like filming it with Charlie?
Really great fun. Charlie’s a great actor, and he was a wonderful act to just play with and play off of. He gives so much, which makes my life 10 times easier, I’ve never got a chance to work with a stunt team in that way — I didn’t do the actual jump off, but I did everything leading up to it, where he’s on the balcony, and we were genuinely over a balcony — that wasn’t green screen, that wasn’t a thing — I was on a harness, and I was literally dangling over maybe like a 50-60 foot drop, it was steep to a point where you’re literally hanging on for dear life, because that vertigo thing of leaning over was there, but then the actual jump was done by a stunt guy. But it was great fun.
If we don’t ever see Rishi again, how do you hope his time in prison and the rest of his life goes?
There’s that moment at the end of the episode where there’s a slight smirk on his face to almost feel like … I’m getting what I deserve. Everything that has happened up into this moment has led to this moment. If he’s in jail, I’d like to think it’s the beginning of redemption. I’d like to think it’s the beginning of a new version of Rishi, and maybe being in an environment like that is exactly what he needs away from that addictive personality that he has ingrained in him, it might shift his mindset a little bit in terms of trying to restart a life and be a better human being. Who knows? Synonymously, jail is not always the best place for that, as much as we’d like to think. People forget jail’s meant to be a place of rehabilitation, and that’s not always the case. It could be a place where he gets even worse? Or it could be a place that changes him completely. And maybe finds God.
As you’re closing the door on “Industry” what will you take away from your time on the show? What are you hoping to do next?
I’ve had a great four seasons. I nearly didn’t even come back for Season 2. I was on another show at the time, and they’d asked me to come back to that and I was a bigger part of that show, arguably, than I was with this one from Season 1 going into Season 2. But I spoke to the boys, and they really kind of wanted me to come back, and they were talking about how they wanted to expand their character. I took that risk and decided to come back. I’m happy that I did, because it ended up being a really wonderful ride. It stretched me as an actor. It tested me as an actor. I hopefully, think it made me better as an actor.
People go their whole careers to have something like this. I’m an Aaron Sorkin fan, so I love that fast-paced dialog. I love that energy and those types of projects bring. I got a chance to explore that in Rishi with this. It’s been an amazing ride, and I’ve enjoyed every step of it. I’m almost sad to say goodbye, because it’s been a big part of my life for the last four seasons, but really, for us as actors, that stretches over seven years. It’s been a long time, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
“Industry” airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
The post ‘Industry’ Star Sagar Radia Breaks Down Rishi’s Literal Fall From Grace and His Fate After Episode 4 appeared first on TheWrap.