Dibyendu Bhattacharya, an alumnus of the National School of Drama, has acted in memorable movies like Monsoon Wedding, Black Friday, Maqbool, Dev D and Lootera. His digital outings include shows such as Sacred Games, Delhi Crime, Criminal Justice, Jamtara, Mirzapur Season 2 and Rocket Boys, among others.
With Undekhi Season 2 on SonyLIV, streaming from March 4, 2022, he returns to the crime thriller as DSP Barun Ghosh who wants to bring some sense of justice to the sinister world he is part of. Edited excerpts from a conversation with Bhattacharya:
In a show where all the characters are driven by some ulterior motive, your character is probably the only one who is untouched by corruption. Was that one of the reasons you took up the show?
In terms of layering, Barun Ghosh is a dynamic character. He is a righteous cop but his reputation is at stake when he comes to Manali. He is an outsider here in the midst of people who manipulate things with power and money. He is completely on his own in a battle field. We also get to know that his father was a Naxalite.
His character is like an onion and you can keep peeling the layers to get to the core. The other characters have a negative force and I have played these kinds of characters in my career. When he comes into the scenario, you know there is some hope.
A few years ago, I did a show called Criminal Justice where I played a character called Layak Talukdar who was absolutely evil. After that, when people see me play a character like this, it is a leap for the audience as well. There is so much going on internally with this character, and I felt I could bring a lot to it.
Talking about Layak Talukdar who was evil personified, how do you justify playing such characters in your mind?
Whether it is Layak or Dr Mehndi Raza in Rocket Boys or Barun Ghosh in Undekhi, I don’t judge the character I am playing. As an actor, you can’t do justice to your performance if you don’t believe in the character. I could be playing Ram or Raavan, good cop or bad cop, a rapist or a paedophile... it is my job as an actor to not judge them but to delve deeper into them and bring them out as flesh and blood people.
You have been working for the past two decades but would it be correct to say that the past five or six years – thanks to the OTT space - have given you the kind of recognition that you didn’t enjoy earlier?
Absolutely, and I am so overwhelmed with this connection I have formed with the audience. When I played Layak, people trolled and abused me. They felt emotional, and as an actor, that is my recognition and reward.
You have done theatre in Kolkata and then you studied at the National School of Drama. Do you credit your theatre background for understanding your craft?
I have always said that stage is the mother of acting. I have had so many teachers and mentors there. It is all thanks to the directors and their way of working, the writers and finding meanings from their written lines, the give and take of energy with co-actors on stage and sometimes even going beyond what is written that has brought me here.
It happened so many times during the shoot of Rocket Boys and even Undekhi that we would just go beyond what is written for the scene and it was so much fun. It’s very important to have fun with your craft and that is what those days at NSD taught me.
Your last outing 'Rocket Boys' saw you as Dr Mehndi Raza who was a nuanced and unpredictable character. Do you enjoy playing such roles where the audience does not know what to expect from you?
It’s fun but I don’t work for the Box Office or the audience because I don’t know how either will react. I only work for the script, the director and the project. I don’t look at the monitor. If the director is satisfied with my take, my work is done.
What’s next?
All the season 2s – there is Jamtara, Rocket Boys, Gone Game and Khuda Hafiz for now.
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