Varun lost 13 kg to play CRPF officer

The actor appears in the 12-episode web series ‘Your Honor’, streaming on SonyLIV from 18 June

Varun Badola plays a CRPF officer opposite Jimmy Shergil in the new SonyLIV web series ‘Your Honor’. In an interview with Showtime, he talks about what happens when he is an actor and what happens when he dons the scriptwriter’s hat.

How did you prepare for the role?

I was 92 kg and I got a three-month window to work out before we started shooting. I brought it down to 79 kg. When you are in the army or the allied forces, there’s so much physical work, and you have to get the look right. As for the character, there wasn’t much preparation. Growing up, I was surrounded by people from the defence forces. My family has produced many.

You are a scriptwriter. Do you look at characters from that perspective as well?

As a writer, you concentrate on every character and give it a different speech pattern. This moulds the character on paper. Then the actors and directors take it to the next level. As an actor, I have never looked at any character from a writer’s point of view, I concentrate on the execution in tandem with the other characters.

How is OTT different from television and films?

In a web series, the biggest challenge is that if you can’t hold your audience in the first episode, they may not come back but still have an opinion. Films have become shorter in format and more diversified in content. Television shows have become a way of life where families tune in every evening. But now television has become haphazard. I wish they were a little more disciplined. There are instances when I have shot for an episode to be aired the same day. That can be stressful. Films and web shows have a bound script and you have to be very confident about what you are making.