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Popular actor Barun Sobti is back on the digital screens as Nikhil Nair in season two of Asur. The full season is streaming on JioCinema and fans can’t stop raving about Sobti’s performance. Popularly known for his roles on television, he swiftly made his move to movies and digital space whilst craving for roles that are diverse and intriguing. With Asur, season 1 ended with a cliffhanger, pondering over the fate of the elusive killer and the horror games that unfolded in the lives of Nikhil Nair (Barun Sobti) and Dhananjay (Arshad Warsi).
EXCLUSIVE: Barun Sobti on Asur 2 and how he opts for diverse roles that challenges him on-screen: “I pick up projects that I find intriguing”
Ahead of the second season, Barun Sobti hopped on a phone call for a quick chat with Bollywood Hungama about the new season. Talking about reprising the role of Nikhil Nair and where he is mentally in Asur 2, Barun says, “Nikhil is at the stage of collapse when the season starts. But, initially, what I was narrated about this character and what I thought of this role is that this guy is not into regular, mundane life kind of things. So, these are (the) kind of people (who) really rise up to the big challenges. And it did look like that when at the end of season 1, he sacrifices his daughter, to save three people and what’s more important, what’s not selfish or individualistic. So because this shows much more about a national crisis, an outlook of that kind, so Nikhil has to rise up to the occasion.”
Sobti emphasized that the contrasting personalities of Dhananjay and Nikhil won’t let them ever come on the same page on most times. “They are very contrasting personalities and it is a complicated relationship. However, Nikhil is called a genius but if you pick up on the fact that the Asur was working right next to him and he couldn’t pick on that. If you see throughout the show, he is not that great at interpersonal relationships. He is a genius but he doesn’t understand relationships, interpersonal relationships, his marriage is on the rocks, there’s this unresolved tension between him and Nusrat case and he also gives away his daughter for that matter. So it’s never gonna be the case like ‘Yeah Dhanajay, let’s sit down and chill today.’ They are at loggerheads because there are very contrasting personalities. But at the same time, the stakes are much bigger,’ he adds.
Talking about the visual grammar of the series, he also praised director Oni Sen and cinematographer Sayak Bhattacharya. “Yeah, Sayak Bhattacharya has done great work. But also a lot of great credit also goes to, I don’t think I’ve spoken enough about Oni, a lot of visual credit, how our show looks and everything goes to the director. He is a very hardworking director, he shot both the first season and the second. I saw him scribbling storyboards the whole day when we’re shooting and he pretty much kept coming up with ideas how it’s going to look.”
It has been three years since season 1 dropped during the pandemic. With season 2, the pandemic hit and the second lockdown also added to the delay of the Asur 2 shoot. Some of his cast mates revisited their characters to get a grasp of where their characters were at. Unlike his cast mates, Sobti didn’t feel the need to revisit as the story was moving forward. When asked if he watched the first again to get into the character after a three-year break, he said, “No, I didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t like that I forgot to perform and all and that I will have to re-watch it. I felt it [the character] was very well deep inside me. I didn’t have to, and I didn’t want to. I remember someone telling me to go back (and) watch the first season and I was like ‘I didn’t want to watch it because I didn’t watch anything when I shot the first season.’ So I tried to keep it fresh. The story moves ahead. It does not go back in time. So, I just went to the sets and it always came back as soon as I changed into my wardrobe.”
In terms of roles, he has been pretty consistent in terms of serving varied content and also performing characters that excite him. After years on TV and popularity with Arnav Singh Raizada in Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, he ventured into several meaty roles like Tu Hai Mera Sunday, Halalal, 200: Halla Ho, and 22 Yards among others. When asked if he gets approached for such roles or if he himself tries to find characters that are interesting, he says, “A little bit of both. If projects don’t get offered to come then what exactly will I do? At the same time, I let go of loads of stuff and I am not trying to make myself sound bigger here. Everyone’s wired a certain way and I am wired a certain way that I get bored very easily. If I have done a certain role, I am the first one to understand before anyone else that I can’t do this again because I am now bored. So, that’s why I pick up projects [which I find intriguing]. The good thing is that I have a very supportive family who say ‘You pick up what you like, don’t worry about the finances and stuff like that. It is what you want to do, you’re happier doing that’s important.’ So it’s good.”
Barun Sobti doesn’t consider himself a big star when his popularity has skyrocketed over the past few years. He continues, “If you think about it, what is a star? Mechanically thinking, it is the machinery of PR. Many years ago, this thought came to mind that good things are very difficult to hide. If you are good, it’s really possible for you to know it. When you don’t deserve it, it doesn’t happen for you.”
He has been in the industry long enough to see the ever-evolving phase. Sobti says, “This is the only thing that has been constant that the industry hasn’t been constant and there’s has been way too many changes in the way the industry functions now. I mean there are abundant opportunities for everyone.”
When asked if there are any of his projects he often revisits like the fans re-watch IPKKD often, he adds, “I often see myself going back to Tu Hai Mera Sunday. I think that I have watched this movie the most. I think it has been like five or six times because it’s so refreshing and you can keep re-watching it. It’s not heavy. My wife loves it as well. Over the last six years, we have had screenings and stuff like that. But, it is also so easy to sit through it.” The actor concludes by saying, “I am a big fan of nostalgia.”
Asur also features Ridhi Dogra, Anupriya Goenka, Amey Wagh, Meiyang Chang, Abhishek Chauhan, and Gaurav Arora.
ALSO READ: JioCinema releases all episodes of Arshad Warsi and Barun Sobti starrer Asur 2 on audience demand
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