Change of track takes Abhishek places

The actor opens up about his casting in Pataal Lok

It’s almost a year since Abhishek Banerjee delivered a mean performance in the crime-thriller series Pataal Lok, and showed himself capable of much more than the comic projects he had hitherto been starring in. He shares his experiences during the Pataal Lok days, “Sudip Sharma Sir watched Stree in a theatre and he called me the next day saying that he wanted me to try for the role of Hatoda Tyagi! He said he saw ‘a maniac in my eyes'. It was a shocker. I didn’t expect that. I stared at myself in the mirror looking for the maniac in me,” says Abhishek.

Revealing that initially he the role exciting, as Tyagi didn’t find didn’t have many dialogues, and the screen time was low compared to other characters, he said “I was half-hearted about attempting the audition; plus, I was the casting director too, so didn’t want to be in an embarrassing situation where I get to hear the news of my own rejection from the team.”

The actor went on to share that “Karnesh Sharma Sir and Sudip Sir were both convinced that I could do a good job of it and did not like the other options I presented for Hatoda’s role! Finally, after a long internal duel, I gathered courage and gave the audition!”

Abhishek says he gave it his all, but was still nervous. When Karnesh called to say they had really liked his audition and he had been chosen for the part, it came as a big relief. “But it was only the beginning of a difficult yet beautiful journey!” he adds.

Paatal Lok opened to strong critical acclaim. Abhishek in particular received a lot of appreciation for his portrayal of Hatoda Singh.

Abhishek’s recently released anthology Ajeeb Daastaans was another very successful outing and earned him much praise. The actor has already bagged five films, and quite a few more are at developmental stages. He will next be seen in Rashmi Rocket, Bhediya, Micholi, Dostana 2 and Helmet.