Gulshan Devaiah is one of those actors who takes one by surprise everytime we see him on screen. He’s shown us everything from being a charmer, brother, husband, and villain. His latest avatar is as a suicidal man in the web series ‘Afsos’ on Amazon Prime Video.
Created by standup comedian Anirban Dasgupta, along with Dibya Chatterjee, it is directed by Anubhuti Kashyap.
The actor took some time off to talk to Metrolife about the series.
You’ve always been experimental with your roles. What was it this time that attracted you to be a part of the show?
Multiple things, actually. Over a period of time, Anirban and team kept coming back to me with more and more inputs and I really enjoyed it. I found their way of work a bit tedious but it worked (laughs). They had great energy and seemed to have their hearts in the right place. I was also excited to work with Anubhuti Kashyap.
And what about your character?
My character, Nakul, is an interesting man. He’s a complete loser who is thrown out of work, has no friends and thinks of him as a great writer but isn’t recognised. It was a challenge to make a loser shine. It could have been boring for the audience. But working with the people I did, and trying something completely new was what I wanted to do.
The trailer of the show makes your character look like a depressed man. Is it a series that has a message at the end?
Nakul is a person who isn’t recognised anywhere and he knows that. He attempts suicide 11 times because he is a person who seeks attention. It’s not because he wants to die. The
show is not a commentary or a discussion about depression or mental illness.
How did you prepare for your role?
I don’t necessarily do much research unless I have to. Here, I just had the team explain the psyche of Nakul and that’s what helped me in ‘Afsos’.
Even with the amount of work you’ve done so far, how do you not have a verified account on Twitter?
(Laughs) I have no idea! I know a few of my friends who have less followers than I do but are verified. I don’t know how this works. But then again, you need to be active and have conversations, which I don’t really want to do.