Playing Munna Tripathi in the gripping crime thriller set in an eastern UP town, 37-year-old Divyenndu won over critics and audience alike in both seasons of the Amazon Prime Video series Mirzapur. In an interview with Giridhar Jha, he talks about the role’s impact on his career. Excerpts:
Did the success of Mirzapur change your life?
Life has always been good. I feel happy and content. As an artiste, I wanted to have something like that in my filmography. It sort of gives me a great high that I have shown different shades of me as an actor. It is something that comes with years of training, hard work, with those theatre days and sleepless nights. I am feeling good right now.
What was the feedback to your performance in Mirzapur Season 2?
It is amazing and overwhelming the way people have been praising it. You cannot explain it in words. You can only receive their love with an open heart. I thank all the people who loved Mirzapur for giving so much. It means a lot.
Mirzapur’s first season was a big hit and had raised expectations. Were you under any pressure?
Not really. We were relieved when it started streaming. There was so much talk and curiosity about Mirzapur 2 that it seemed to have become deafening. We wanted viewers to watch it. Thankfully, they were generous in their response. Also, it was brave of the makers to make Mirzapur 2 the way they made it. Compared to Season 1, it is darker and grittier and it has a lot of depth and drama.
Did you do any preparation for the character of Munna Bhaiya?
You have to go by the script. But you have to prepare a great deal too. Munna is such a complex character. He is emotionally volatile. He has swag, dresses up in a certain way, and drives a jeep. His understanding of life is different. To make him believable and human was very important for me. It should not look like a cardboard image. A lot of preparation went into it.
You followed it up Ekta Kapoor’s Bicchoo Ka Khel set in Varanasi, not far from Mirzapur.
Bicchoo Ka Khel has a lot of dialogue-baazi. It is done in a filmy, yet realistic way. The plot is different from Mirzapur, though set in eastern UP. Yes, the language is similar. You cannot always invent a new city and a new language. If Munna speaks from the heart, Akhil (Bicchoo Ka Khel) speaks from the head.
In recent years, movies have shifted from cities to small towns.
That’s because writers and directors are coming from small towns. Film-making is becoming much more democratic. Also, after watching films with Mumbai’s mawali language or on Delhi’s Punjabi weddings for a while, you need to have new stories, characters and settings. It offers a new world to the audience. It is a win-win situation for makers and viewers.
You arrived in Bollywood when Hindi cinema was shifting from formula flicks to content-rich cinema.
I did theatre before I joined a film school, but we were not taught much about such cinema. I came at a time when change just started. I have been part of that movement where we saw glimpses of the old world and the new era as well. Now, OTT has come and you can have the best of both worlds.
How was your experience at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune?
It helped me a lot. At FTII, they teach you various things, from light and sound to editing and direction. It helps in your professional world, where you can understand the perspective of technicians. You understand why it is important to have a light at a certain angle or a camera at a certain place. Why continuity is so important etc.
The recent successes of young actors underline that Bollywood is shifting from star-driven to actor-driven cinema. Do you think the star system will collapse?
I really hope so. It is important to have content-driven cinema. It is time we made ourselves proud by moving out of the box and shifting towards realism. It is high time Bollywood moved beyond the colourful dance numbers. It is important because OTT is a platform where you have direct competition with the best…Mirzapur is shown alongside Game of Thrones and Fargo.
Which are your forthcoming projects?
As of now, I have finished Mere Desh ki Dharti, which may have a theatrical release this year.
Any particular role you wished?
Too many! I would like to play a superhero, a detective, portray a vampire. It sounds weird but is on my wishlist.
