Even Divyenndu Sharma never imaged that his characterMunna Bhaiya would become such a rage. He is super glad that he signed Mirzapur andis reaping the benefits of his career's best phase.
To begin with when asked how is he celebrating thisphase of his career, he very honestly replied, ¡°I¡¯m just enjoying itby not questioning anything, by not over thinking about anything. I have workedhard to see this day. I have done all the hard work, so this is the time to just sitback, relax and enjoy the view.¡±
When asked if he had a hint that Mirzapur would becomeso big, the actor replied, ¡°I definitely knew one thing that this is something solid. When I read it, I knew this would ring a bell with the audiencefor sure because of the writing, the platform, the production house, everythingwas in good sense. I had a fair bit idea that it would be solid, but thismassive a hit? NOPE, never thought about it.".?
At the risk of sounding arrogant, Divyenndu compared Mirzapur to be as big as Sholay"The kind of rage Mirzapur has isunbelievable, almost like Sholay - it¡¯s that big, people are that crazy about it, across all genders, age-groups and states - it¡¯s just amazing and overwhelming.¡±
When asked to comment on how most of his fans want to become Munna Tripathi as they are influenced by him, does he take it as compliment or criticism, heexplained,
"I think it¡¯s a compliment because I believe thatpeople are sensible- for them Munna Tripathi is someone who¡¯s wearing a kurta, dark glasses and driving a jeep. I know that people will not carry gunsand do crazy stuff or anything. I think they just want to celebrate the spiritof Munna Tripathi. Because A) he is a dark character and B) he is also veryvulnerable because when Munna cries, you also feel that emotionalchord connected with Munna.
In the first season this dialogue got pretty famous - Bahut dhukh hota hai jab aap yogya ho, aur log aapki yogyata ko nasamjhe. I think that¡¯s the thing , lots of Indians relate with it, we feel weare capable of something but we don¡¯t get a chance."
"Also, in the second season when you see him as aloving and caring husband, you see Munna Tripathi as more human and that¡¯s whatmakes his character very complete. See at the end of the day we all have grey shades in us, so people are attracted with both the sides of Munna,¡± he concluded.
When Divyenndu said no to Punchnama sequel, many thoughthe took a wrong decision, but he found a much bigger hit in Mirzapur, whenasked about this, he said, ¡°Punchnama 1 became such a cult film; I obviouslyknew that 2 would become an even bigger hit. I have always said that I knew Punchnama2 would be a huge hit and that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t do it. The only thing was I didn¡¯twant to get slotted in that cute boy next-door image, who just doeshunky-dory films. Because I knew as an actor I could offer much more and Ialways say this- It¡¯s my tapasya as an artist that I finally got Munna. Youwould agree with me that saying no to big films and big money is never evereasy. So my struggle actually started after I became successful. ¡°
From where he got the courage to say no to films since he has no background in the industry? He said,? ¡°More than me,I had faith in my training. I have trained in theatre, I went to film school, Istudied films there, and deep down inside I had that faith in me. Also I amvery honest guy, I don¡¯t over promise myself for anything. I see myself very clearlyin the mirror of what I am capable of. You can only have this kind ofconfidence when your training is proper.¡±
Divyenndu's new crime thrillerBichoo Ka Khel released recently. No points for guessing but the audiences expect even more from him now as Munna became a rage, to which he said, ¡°I don¡¯t think like this at all. I don¡¯t over thinkabout things. If I am convinced with the story and the character, I jump in aproject. Similarly like I did Pyaar Ka Punchama, then I did Chashme Buddhor,but at the same time when I got a film like Toilet- Ek Prem Katha, I was okayto play Akshay Kumar¡¯s brother because I liked the project. I seriously wantthat kind of culture to come in our film industry where decisions are based on artistic value rather than such calculations - that I have become thisbrand, now I have to become even bigger, how to consolidate my position, all thesethings corrupt you as an artist , so you have to be as innocent as possible, don¡¯tcorrupt yourself ever.¡±
Bicchoo Ka Khel is now streaming on Alt Balaji and Zee5.?