EXCLUSIVE | Not 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama', Netflix's 'Glory' actor Divyenndu debuted with Madhuri Dixit's 'Aaja Nachle,' says 'It was a forgettable experience because…'

Divyenndu Sharma is one of the most effortless actors we have in the industry today. Not just his sharp comic timing in the 2011 Pyaar Ka Punchnama, even his cold-blooded turn in the cult show Mirzapur continues to live on. And he played a cop in Tisca Chopra’s Saali Mohabbat one more time after last year’s Agni. His latest turn happens to be that of a ticking time bomb in Netflix's series Glory.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actor opened up about being directed by Karan Anshuman, decoding his character, and making an appearance in Madhuri Dixit's Aaja Nachle.

Edited excerpts from the interview

What do you have to say about your collaboration and reunion with Karan Anshuman?

Karan is somebody who is always trying to make something new and exciting. He is not going to come up with something which is run of the mill. You can always expect a twist here and there. It is a combination of many things and very meticulously designed and consciously done. It was great to be back together and have that similar feeling of work.

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How you would describe your character Dev. Do you feel he is a ticking time bomb?

I had to camouflage all his pain and feelings behind this really tough, Whatever his exterior. It wasn't easy because it just when you see, go dig deep into his past. It's only pain, pain and darkness, you see.

And to navigate such a character can be extremely difficult. The whole purpose was to make him believable. Like you said, he's a ticking time bomb, but still try and make him relatable somewhere and just, you know, to try to be that person who's lost in his life and has some motivation. I was thinking that when you play a certain kind of a character, the character is in an extraordinary situation right now; you don't really know who this person is because right now what you see is a person in this extraordinary situation.

So you don't know this guy in a day to day life.

We get a very small glimpse of it. And I often wonder what Dev would be like in a regular day to day life.

I mean you have to infer that I suppose to a certain degree because you see the allergy break out on his skin the moment he comes back into his town, you know how much he hates this place and how much he dislikes being here. But mostly when you see a character in a film or a series, they're always in a particular situation.

So you see them reacting to that situation and you always think about how this character would be otherwise in happier times, on a more neutral sort of a thingy time. All of these relationships and just thankful to Karan that he was just constantly, you know, being there to just try and understand.

Obviously he also has a deep understanding of the character but still tries to understand where I am coming from with this character and try to understand, you know, my character language of it.

Before Pyaar Ka Punchnama, you did a film called Aaja Nachle back in 2007. How did that happen?

So I was fresh out of the FTII. We got to know Yash Raj is making a film, you know, and supposed to be Madhuri Dixit's comeback. And I thought it's going to be my entry in the film industry. Madhuri is coming back. Could be like a very good thing. Without even knowing what kind of role it was.

And those guys back in the day, used to just hide the script from everyone. Whom are you hiding it from? So I had no idea whatsoever what I was getting into. And for that kind of a role to have three rounds of audition and I thought this must be something really important.

And the first day I went onto the shoot and it was written henchmen on the outside door. And I was like what just happened? So it was a very forgettable experience that way. I mean I took nothing away from it. The only learning I had is like not to believe anyone unless and until you read.

And not just to go with the intentions of the other person. And hardly on that film, we ever spoke with the director or anyone. It was just conveyed through a chief AD or some other AD. And I was like it is not really filmmaking,  you're making a big commercial sort of a film where you need people. I could have been just anyone. It’s okay.