Divyenndu Sharma (BCCL/ Aditya Yadav)
Munna Bhaiya aa gaye hain. ” Upon hearing this anecdote, a visibly proud and evidently flattered Mirzapur-star replies, “This character is not mine, it’s theirs. When we reached actor Divyenndu ’s hotel in the city—huffing and puffing—and asked the security personnels to lead us to the celebrity’s room for his interview, a group of men came running with a plastered smile on their faces, declaring, “Haan! They have the ownership of this more than me. But this level of adulation should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the actor’s career trajectory. His Pyaar Ka Punchnama character Liquid, for instance, is a classic example of that. Perhaps his sense of perspective that the audience immortalises iconic charcaters on screen comes having spent years navigating an industry that has changed considerably since he first arrived in Mumbai. For Divyenndu, however, the journey began in Pune, at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), an experience he still carries with him.
‘You never really know what audiences will connect with’
“I find that quite embarrassing because filmmaking shouldn’t be reduced to box-office numbers,” he says. Divyenndu is uncomfortable with the increasing emphasis on box-office figures and the industry’s tendency to celebrate opening-day or opening-weekend numbers. He acknowledges that numbers matter to the business but doesn’t believe they necessarily determine the quality of a film. More importantly, he doesn’t think audiences should be made to feel responsible for supporting a particular film or filmmaker. “Whatever they see in a trailer should engage them and they should decide for themselves whether they want to watch it in a theatre or later on OTT. The beauty of this field is that you never really know what audiences will connect with. I would never want to burden them with that choice,” he shares.