The series revolves around a fledgling maverick film director who gets drawn into an extra-marital affair with an eccentric superstar who changes his life forever; his marriage with his first love spirals as he is torn in between two worlds. Set mainly in 70s Bollywood, the golden era of bellbottoms and some great music.

This story revolves around the lives of Shankar, Amna, and Anju. The story explores complicated human relationships between adults and the different shades that love can take. Here is the interaction with Tahir Raj Bhasin

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Can you tell us something about your character in the show?

Yes of course you know one of the things that struck me when doing the narration of the show when they called me how complex and how layered the part of Shankar is..he is an aspiring director when you meet him at the beginning of the show he got 3 flop films..his core desire is to make a film that is a commercial success and is loved by the audience but the problem is he doesn’t have a script..in finding the story for his film he opens doors to different journey in the life and once a journey he meets the superstar of that Era an actress Amna Parvez who he is attracted towards the conflicts exits because he also has a wife and a child who he loves and it is that conflict and entanglement between the duty and desire that forms the basis of catharsis that Shankar goes through and that is through that conflicts he discovers who he is..what his art is and what ultimately his story becomes.

Did you face any difficulties while doing the character and was any experience that you would like to share?

Sure, the biggest challenge because it was such an emotionally and psychologically demanding show where you are dealing with two actresses on the same day you have a passionate romantic scene with one and a conflict scene with another it was a 90 days shoot because it’s a series and it’s much longer than the feature and the challenge really was how you do not carry that emotional baggage back with you from set back home how you let go and how do you re-enter that character with the same kind of energy you got in the previous day so it was really an exercise in graft and in strength and the interesting aspect really goes in recreating the Era of ’70s in leaving your phones, your laptops and iPads in the vanity van and entering sets and spending whole day without technology so you get the same sense and of course, the most iconic thing about those time was fashion and the music and both of those elements you can see in the trailer.

Can you tell us some of your best moments while you were shooting the character?

It would be a bit of a spoiler but one of my most challenging moments was there is a scene in which Shankar is sitting in the editing room and editing his film and the film is not shaping the way he wants and at the same time he gets a phone call from his wife and there is a separate dynamic between the wife and him and he walks out and meets the diva Amna Parvez and as an actor, it was a great moment because there was so much performance in that one scene and there were so many emotions that he goes through and the setting was so intimate and so small because of very small crew it was a handheld camera so to get it all right in one take was a challenge and I would really look forward to seeing when I watch it.

How is your character different from your real life? Are you a real-life Romantic?

I am a die-hard Romantic I grew up on 90s films it’s just so happened that I debuted in roles of anti-heroes and action and sports so I am really excited that 2022 is opening with a huge bang of a romantic bonanza not one but three different projects and the first project will be Ranjish he sahi and I am anxious and excited to see how the audience likes and gives the feedback on performance.

You have also done Villain roles how’s your experience to actually do villains roles?

Sure, the term really stuck with the performance in Mardani and force 2 was the term anti-hero and I always really preferred to see them as an anti-hero and the difference really in that term is the parts where I was made to look and feel like the boy next door and they were charming they were stylish but it was the mindset that was of an antagonist and that was always fun to do like to play a bad guy like a good guy and that is where the little bit of understanding what I would like to really call moral objectivity where no one is fully good not fully bad they are always in the shade of grey and playing grey part was a lot of fun when I started but like I said I am really enjoying this new chapter of starting of this Romantic and leads part.

My last question would be you playing the character of Sunil Gavaskar in 83 while shooting did you actually get the secrets about it?

Yes, he visited sets and that was very intimidated Gavaskar behind the monitor while shooting and trying to play like him but he was also very charming he was very laid back and very charismatic and he was always giving inputs and that to a large extent contributed to the kind of performance that has absolutely seen onscreen and he was also very gracious after he saw the film he said he saw the bit of himself in my performance and that for me ultimate validation and I really something got from him the maturity, the gravitas and the experience he got and that was the challenge for me because all the cricketer in 83 of my age but how to play someone who comes in little more established, little more experienced than all of them and manages to behind the scenes while back seat driving still makes invaluable contributions to the team.