Important to be more versatile and successful today than before, says Abhishek Bachchan

Actors should aim for versatility and success in equal parts, says Abhishek Bachchan as he believes it is the only way to they can secure their next acting job. Abhishek, who has shown his acting chops in movies such as Yuva, Dhoom, Bunty Aur Babli, Guru, Dostana, Paa, Manmarziyaan and Ludo, believes versatility alone will not guarantee an actor employment.

"It is important to be more versatile today than five to ten years ago. As an actor, if you want to be employed and remain employed, you have to be versatile, so that the makers have the confidence that no matter what we give them they will be able to pull it off.

"With versatility, you have to be successful as well because if you are not good at it, you are not going to get your next job," the 46-year-old actor told PTI in an interview.

Abhishek is one of the major Bollywood stars who ventured into the OTT space with the hit Prime Video series Breathe: Into the Shadows.

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He believes streaming platforms have opened the doors for new work opportunities for actors and exposed audiences to fine content from across the globe, thereby pushing content creators to put their best foot forward.

"You have to be much more versatile today because there is that much more work and people are accepting different kinds of work," he added.

The icing on the cake, according to the actor, is when the work is lauded by the people.

"If you get an offer, or you get more work, that means you are doing something right, and you should pat yourself on the back and get back to working," he added.

Abhishek's performance in the recently released second season of his Prime Video series “Breathe: Into the Shadows” has garnered praise. The show's sophomore installment arrived on the streamer on November 9.

In the new season, the actor returns as Dr Avinash Sabharwal, a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder who kills people as he takes on the new name J.

The psychological thriller series is co-created and helmed by Mayank Sharma, who also directed the previous season.

Abhishek recalled how he first jumped at the idea of portraying the character when Sharma and Vikram Malhotra, Founder & CEO of Abundantia Entertainment, pitched the show in early 2018.

"As an actor, you jump at an opportunity like that. It is a wonderful character and there is a wonderful scope for performance. It is something I had not done before. It is an opportunity that you don’t want to let go of," he said.

His co-star Saiyami Kher, who reprises her role of the unapologetic and headstrong escort Shirley, shared she had a lot of questions for the director when she dived into the latest season.

And for reference, she revisited the show and fell in love with it all over again.

"The way Mayank looked at Shirley is very different from what most people associate the character’s profession to be. The character is hard because of the profession she is in but there is a lot of softness to her internally. I felt all of this exciting," she said.

The Breathe: Into The Shadows franchise spawned out of the 2018 Prime Video show Breathe, which starred R Madhavan and Amit Sadh.

In the first season of the Bachchan-starrer show, director Mayank Sharma dealt with the ten traits of Raavan through the character of J and the second chapter will see J returning to complete his unfinished business.

"Audience is aware that J is not going to rest until he exercises those ten heads, of which four are already being executed in the last season. The bigger mystery is how he is going to do it (in this season).

"In the new season, there is an evolution of the characters, and it is not just about killing the victims. This time you enter the world of victims, you understand them much more deeply and it will make everyone breathless," Sharma added.

The eight-episode series will also see the return of Amit Sadh as Kabir Sawant. Naveen Kasturia of TVF Pitchers fame, who is the newest addition to the ensemble cast.