If you loved Deven Bhojani as the hilarious Dushyant from 'Sarabhai vs Sarabhai', get ready to see a whole new side of him. In an exclusive interview, the beloved actor-director dives into his upcoming thriller 'Black, White & Grey – Love Kills', premiering on Sony LIV on May 2. Bhojani takes us behind the scenes of the show’s intense shoot, shares how he prepared for his gripping role, and also reflects on his unforgettable journey with the cult classic sitcom that made him a household name.

Deven will be seen in a grey character in director Pushkar Mahabal’s upcoming series. Even though his role is fairly short in terms of length, compared to his previous roles, Deven said that he has “never played such kind of a character earlier.” “We did a lot of look trials for this character because the director, producer, creative team, and I were all of the opinion that since it is my first attempt at playing such kind of a character, the look should go well with the character. We did some five to six look trials where we kept trying different things with the costume, make-up, hair, and everything. Finally, we zeroed down on the one look that you will see in the show. We were all happy with this look for the character. I also thought that this character and its look would help me break the typecast that has been there around me to some extent in the last few years,” Deven told Mathrubhumi English.

Choosing the right look was one of Deven’s first steps in preparing for a character that is both raw and intense. He also underwent a physical transformation — not specifically for the role itself, but to shoot a particular scene. Recalling the film’s shooting, which happened in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), he said, “We were supposed to shoot on the banks of the river Ganges, and required to climb down the hill and up again several times for it. It was really sweet of the creative team and the producer to ask me whether I would be able to manage to do that before they zeroed down on the one particular location that the director had loved. Of course, I am a little on the heavier side, but I said, ‘Don’t worry, and don’t compromise on your location.’ We had enough time, which is why I decided to reduce a lot of work by exercising. I started climbing stairs since I live on the 14th floor. At first, I would manage just two or three floors, but gradually, I worked my way up to climbing all 14 floors — up and down — for a month. It really helped me. I also felt that if the team was getting a good location, they shouldn’t compromise it because of me. This was just one of the aspects of the physical transformation that I had to undergo for the role.

The 55-year-old actor also took weapon training, as it was a necessity for the character. What also came in handy for shooting this series’s action sequences was Vidyut Jamwal starrer ‘Commando 2: The Black Money Trail’, an action-thriller film directed by Deven. “Waha toh Vidyut ko bolta tha ki yeh karde, woh kar de, par yaha toh khudko hi karna padhta tha sab (For ‘Commando 2’ I would ask Vidyut to do this or that [stunt] but here, I had to do it myself). It was quite a task. Vidyut would easily climb a wall or jump inside a car from its window, but in ‘Black, White & Grey - Love Kills’, if I had to run, I had to put in a lot of effort. It wasn’t easy.”

Furthermore, Deven also remembered his shooting experience amidst the jungles in Nagpur, and how he came across tiger pugmarks at the shoot location. Reminiscent of it, he said, “On the very first day of filming in Nagpur in a dense jungle, we all were ready in our get-up for the shoot. The atmosphere there was so eerie, it was so dark, and we could hear the sounds of animals. In fact, we also happened to see footprints of a tiger, and I also stumbled upon an animal skull.”

Other than his upcoming series, Deven also spoke about ‘Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai’ and the secret to the show’s enduring popularity. He credited “entertainment” as the main factor behind it. “Whatever is entertaining, be it comedy, a love story, drama, or a thriller, for that matter, if it is entertaining enough in the right way, and to the right degree, it will work. I was the director of ‘Sarabhai vs Sarabhai’, besides playing Dushant, so I had a lot of things to look into. Thankfully, it became the show that it did, and I’m really happy and proud of directing it, and also playing Dushyant. Even after 21 years of the show, memes of Dushyant go viral every now and then. It feels nice,” said Deven, adding that even though the first season of the show didn’t get enough TRPs, it went on to become a cult success. “It was ahead of its time. But later, when people started understanding its humour, it became more and more popular and eventually became a cult.”

Concluding the interview, Deven, who feels that he was typecast for comic roles, has stopped doing television for the past three to four years, and is also avoiding taking up comedy. He is more focused on OTTs and films now and is on a journey of exploring a different side of himself as an actor.