Manav Kaul on playing a male sex worker in Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper, “It was a lot of fun, no one was hesitant”

The very talented Manav Kaul said he had no reservations about playing a sex worker in Netflix’s new series Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper. “It was a fun ride. It is a weird story. I don't know how my director Puneet Krishna thought about it. How he came up with such an idea. It was a lot of fun playing this character. No one was hesitant. No one was even thinking about what is happening. We were all having so much fun. It was actually one of the best team I was part of. I feel very humble and I get to work with such amazing cast and actors time after time. I got really lucky this time to get this role. When I read the script, I was actually chasing Puneet Krishna and the producer. I thought this is such a rooted script. I thought I would love to be part of it. Not just Tribhuvan, I was willing to play any character,” he said.

How did he enter this complex character’s inner world? “Yes, it is a very complex character. But because I come from Hoshangabad, I grew up in Hoshangabad. I was born in Kashmir. My brother is working in Airtel. He has a family. He loves his family. He is very close to his children. I know this world. It was complex. But at the same time, I know the middle class. The struggle of the middle class. Their problem and everyday struggle. In that sense, I was able to understand the character. But also to portray it was made easy by the writing,” said the actor.

He added, “Puneet has written so brilliantly. I sat with him. He narrated each and every episode to me. That was a huge help. Because of Puneet and his co-director Amrit Raj Gupta. They both have been working with this material for so long. They had an understanding inside and out of everything. I was in good hands. I could experiment. I could perform in different ways.”

“All the research has been done by Puneet,” Manav said. “I haven't done any research. I got the script, and I sat with Puneet. And Puneet told me a lot of his experiences. And because the series is not about him, getting into those weird circumstances and how to get out of it. It's a cat and mouse game. It became like, how honest  can we be. And also, the world Puneet has researched and experienced. So he gave us a very, very basic idea on male prostitution. He said that this is like any other job. So you have to be absolutely honest in everything you do. And whatever questions I had, Puneet had all the answers and more.”

Manav feels very close to his character Tribhuvan. “I am very idealistic in my world also,” he said. “I feel I am very vulnerable whenever I do theatre or whenever I write a book. I feel very vulnerable. It's not about judging the character. It's picking the core points from the character which you feel are what makes him tick. I wanted to actually portray the real side of Tribhuvan. Because of these things, and also it's a belief system in your head, how much you can believe in the character or how honestly you can tell his story. So that people think that yes, this is Tribhuvan, there is no other Tribhuvan. I wanted them to see me as Tribhuvan.”

He added, “When you are doing a series, it's 9 episodes, a long series, you get to play every shade of the character. So, you have to be very sure. All the preparation was done beforehand. We did the reading with each and every character. All the difficult scenes I had read with Puneet Krishna. So we were well prepared before we went for the shoot. So judging the character is more like understanding the bits and pieces of Tribhuvan which actually creates something in my head that I feel that it's me. And I am going to react like this. You are shooting continuously and you are in the character. So, you feel that your decision is actually Tribhuvan's decision.”

Manav admitted that the OTT platform has changed his life. “OTTs are amazing,” he said. “You see actors like Vijay Verma, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Shefali Shah, actors who have given us such amazing performances in recent years. I've been watching them for years. So what OTT has done is given more options to the audience. And by giving that on OTT, we are doing different stuff. We can push the envelope further now. And people have greater choices to see or not to see. So I think that is also important.”

Manav added, “And also OTT needs actors to pull off 9 episodes or 8 episodes and a bigger story. So, everyone is searching for good actors. And luckily, we have a lot of them. I've done a film called Baramulla which I'm very excited about. I'm reading scripts. So maybe I'll say yes to something. And I have to shoot one thing this year. Because I haven't shot anything for the past one and a half years now. So, it's about time I should get back to acting. I know there are a lot of people who keep on messaging me. Why don't you act more? Because I love life. And I feel that how I live is very important than what I do.”

“So, I give a lot of time to my travels,” he said. “I give a lot of time to theatre, to my writing. And also to my acting. So, I have to compartmentalize everything. I have to give time to everything. I can't do just one thing continuously. I have to take longer breaks to do something else. And writing takes a lot of my time. So, it's something that I'm dealing with. And I'm trying to do as much as I can. But in all of this, the most important thing is that I want to live well. I want to live. I don't want to be a person who dies while working. I want to die while living. So, I want to live more and work less. That is my motto in life,” said Manav.

Also Read: Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper Trailer: Manav Kaul and Tillotama Shome unleash a madcap comedy

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