Randeep Hooda: Sustaining a character over long OTT schedules can get tedious

Randeep Hooda is set to reprise Avinash Mishra in the second season of Inspector Avinash, which starts streaming on JioHotstar from today. Inspired by the life of a Uttar Pradesh police officer who battled organised crime in the late 1990s, the series came with its own challenges for the actor, especially because the shoot stretched across an extended schedule disrupted by the pandemic. One of the more difficult aspects for Randeep was slipping back into the world of Inspector Avinash after a long break.The actor shares, “The two seasons were filmed together, but the schedule was interrupted because of COVID. During that period, I went on to shoot Cat, for which I had to learn Punjabi and play a Sardar before returning to Inspector Avinash. Altogether, the shoot stretched across more than 150 days, so naturally there was some nervousness about getting back into the same space and rhythm.”Reconnecting with the real Inspector Avinash helped him slip back into the role more naturally. He says, “Like before the first season, I observed him closely, recorded his conversations and spent time understanding his mannerisms. He has a very distinct Lucknow and UP dialect along with a sharp sense of wit, which added greatly to the style and psychological makeup of the character. Thankfully, slipping back into the role happened much faster than I expected.”Having worked across both films and long-format storytelling, the actor believes OTT projects demand far greater stamina because of the scale and duration of the shooting schedules. Randeep shares, “Sustaining a character for such a prolonged period requires a different kind of endurance, even though it allows audiences to engage with the character more deeply.”He adds, “Films are comparatively crisper and leave more to the audience’s imagination. With long-format storytelling, the volume of work itself can become exhausting, especially when you are investing yourself fully into the role. But irrespective of the medium, an actor’s responsibility ultimately remains the same, to perform the character truthfully and carry the screenplay forward honestly.”