Cory Stillman
As the fiery and potty-mouthed Rishi on HBO’s Industry, actor Sagar Radia has maintained a steady presence on the trading floor since the show’s debut in 2020. Rishi’s role was functional albeit not quite fully fleshed out across Industry‘s first two seasons, but season three — a marked improvement for the show in every facet — carved out new territory for Radia to play.
While Rishi’s arc extends across season three, fans of the show will surely remember him by his explosive journey in S3E4 “White Mischief,” a Christmas bottle episode for the ages. “White Mischief” legitimately stands out as one of 2024’s greatest episodes of television, and perhaps one of the greatest of all time. That may sound like hyperbole to some, but those who have seen the episode will surely understand.
“You go your whole career trying to get an episode like this as an actor,” says Radia. “To be challenged and pushed to this extent.”
The episode most notably reveals that Rishi is deep in debt due to his gambling addiction, an ailment that leads him down several other even darker paths. Radia taps into a shockingly physical performance as Rishi, his bloodied Christmas sweater and bruised face serving only as partial evidence of a night-gone-wrong for Pierpoint’s head trader.
Director Zoé Wittock does her best Safdie Bros impression with “White Mischief,” capturing Radia in extreme close-up and ratcheting up the agonizing tension across all 57 minutes. The actor even rewatched Uncut Gems as part of his preparation for the episode, as that film was unsurprisingly reference quite often by Wittrock and series creators Konrad Kay and Mickey Down.
“I just wanted to go in and watch Adam Sandler’s journey as an actor,” says Radia. “So it was more just looking at it from an emotional standpoint to see what he did.”
Both Rishi and Howard Ratner experience a whirlwind of highs and lows throughout their respective journeys, and like Sandler, Radia captures an uncanny intensity with his performance in “White Mischief.” Even as a brutal series of events beats him down both physically and mentally, Rishi continues to push back against his fate. That rebellious streak proves both costly and tragic by the end of season three, and Rishi’s position within the broader framework of Industry will now prove more crucial than ever before as fans look ahead to season four.
“Now the question is ‘who is Rishi and what does that look like going forward?'”
Check out our full conversation with Sagar Radia below. We discuss his own similarities and differences to Rishi, as well as his perspective on the South Asian representation on the show.
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