Divyenndu forayed into the web series space playing Munna Bhaiya in Mirzapur. After the success of Mirzapur, he went on to act in two web films -- Badnam Gali and Kanpuriye. The actor insists that starring in a web series and holding on to a character for days is way more strenuous than working in a web film.
"In case of a series, you have a lot of content to shoot, for about nine to ten episodes. You have to make the arc of your character accordingly. For instance, in Mirzapur, it was hard for me to be very sure of the character each and every day. So it's just a little more strenuous," he said.
Working on Kanpuriye, his latest movie on Hotstar VIP, was comparatively a breeze. It's a zone he is quite familiar with - insists Divyenndu – working with a first time filmmaker, and a shoot schedule of just 12 days.
"It was sort of in the experimental zone in terms of storytelling, and these guys were not really taking the regular commercial path. So it was very refreshing for me to go out there for 12 days, shoot something and just come out of it," says Divyenndu.
"I come from a film school, I studied in FTII, I know these kinds of new filmmakers when they make a film, what are the pressures, how you go about it. We used to shoot our diploma films in 10-day shoot schedules. Having a first time filmmaker like Ashish Aryan trying to do things differently was nice. He has written the script and is himself from Kanpur."
The slice of life movie is about three guys from Kanpur who are trying to fulfil their dreams, achieve something, but they are sort of trapped in the city. The film has three parallel tracks starring Divyenndu, Aparshakti Khurrana and Harsh Mayar. They barely cross paths in the film, which was shot in Kanpur and the actors have tried to imbibe the local mannerisms.
Divyenndu says, "I play this character called Vijay Dinanath Chauhan. He's a lawyer. His father was a Bachchan fan. The irony of his life is that he is fighting his life's first case to defend himself. He was dating a girl, and something went wrong. Her family falsely accused him of something and now he's fighting his own case. He wants to go to Mumbai to become a big lawyer, but he is stuck in a very ridiculous situation."
Divyenndu says he is glad to have films like Kanpuriye come his way, which he can take up purely due to artistic reasons, without the pressures of a box office opening and bigger budgets. But he insists that grabbing eyeballs on the web is a lot more difficult.
"In case of a film, you can cast familiar faces, put in some remixed songs and attract audiences. In case of the web, your content has to be really good for a viewer to actually want to click on it. The web works on merit. Something like Kanpuriye is on the same platform as Game of Thrones. You have to be really strong out there," Divyenndu insists.
He is currently awaiting the release of Mirzapur season 2. The actor's Wikipedia filmography also lists Brahmastra, the upcoming Ayan Mukerji directorial starring Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. But Divyenndu insists he is not a part of the film.
"I don't know how it all started. I'm mentioned on their Wikipedia page as well. People ask me when is Brahmatsra coming out, and I say, 'Boss, not in this one, but maybe I'll be in the sequel. They really like me so unhone pehle se hi rakh dia hai,” the actors laughs off.
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