From Liquid to Munna Bhaiya: Divyendu wants to keep experimenting

Eight years after his debut as lovelorn Liquid in Luv Ranjan's "Pyaar Ka Punchnama", actor Divyendu has finally broken free of that image and says people on the streets now call him Munna Bhaiya, the name of his character in gangster drama "Mirzapur".

The success of "Pyaar Ka Punchnama" found Divyendu trapped in the image of a comedic actor but instead of playing to it, the actor said he made a conscious decision to break away with "Mirzapur".

As Munna, the young spoiled brat and gun-totting heir to Pankaj Tripathi's Kaleen Bhaiya in "Mirzapur", Divyendu is miles away from the boastful yet naive Liquid.

"It's Munna bhaiya all over right now. I can't escape this character wherever I go. When people meet me, they call me 'Munna Bhaiya'. But this is heartening and humbling to me.

"If you are playing a character and people start seeing you as that guy, then that is something incredible to know. It means they have appreciated you for experimenting with a character. It gives you confidence that you can continue to try things and choose different stories," Divyendu told PTI in an interview.

"Like any other actor, I want to express different sides and shades of me. I want my audiences to believe that if Divyendu is in a project, there has to be something special about the project."
"When I started out with 'Punchnama' and 'Chashme Baddoor', they were both hits. A lot of people wanted me to carry on with comedies. But I took a conscious decision that I want to be an actor and not a particular character."
"A lot of writers and directors are coming from UP so they are getting a lot of stories which are based in UP. Fortunately, I have been lucky that I got to be part of these projects."
"My character's name is Vijay Dinanath Chauhan and he is a lawyer and the son of a film obsessed man. The biggest irony of his life is that he is fighting his first case and he is the defendant. The story is about his fight for survival and his quest to achieve his goals and dreams."
"The only thing I can say about 'Mirzapur' is that we have completed shooting second season and it will premiere sometime early next year."