Actor. Producer. Reality TV show host. Jisshu Sengupta wears many hats and excels at them too. Having shot to fame at a young age as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the TV serial Mahaprabhu in the 1990s, Jisshu matured as an actor under the tutelage of Rituparno Ghosh, whose films record some of his significant performances, like Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish, Abohomaan and The Last Lear. Over the past decade, Jisshu has spread his wings beyond Bengal, slowly carving a niche for himself in the Hindi and Telugu film industries, and currently awaiting the release of his next big film Shaakuntalam, starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu, on April 14.

On his 46th birthday, we pick three web series featuring Jisshu, and two upcoming shows we are looking forward to.

Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors

Jisshu plays Bikram Chandra, a celebrated advocate, a devoted husband to Anuradha (Kirti Kulhari) and the doting father of a 13-year-old girl in Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors. He is presented as the perfect man, who cares for his clinically depressed wife. The Ramesh Sippy-directed web thriller takes a turn when Bikram is murdered by Anuradha in their bedroom, with their daughter as the sole witness. A small-time lawyer Madhav Mishra (Pankaj Tripathi) decides to fight for Anuradha and as he digs deeper, details on Bikram and Anuradha’s marital life begin to emerge, showing signs of domestic abuse, and the facade of an ideal husband that Bikram maintained begins to fall apart. Jisshu makes an impact in the short screen time he has. He deftly wears the mask of a gentleman outside and a monster inside the bedroom, bringing out the starkness of the character’s manipulative side against an outward appearance of greatness.

Watch it on: Disney+ Hotstar

Typewriter

In Sujoy Ghosh’s horror thriller Typewriter, Jisshu plays a mathematics teacher named Amit Roy, and there is more to his character than meets the eye. Amit is actually faking his identity. His sights are set on a typewriter in the Bardez Villa in Goa, where the whole drama takes place.

A group of kids in Bardez, who are part of the local ghost club, are interested in the old mansion that has several spooky stories swirling around it. When a new family moves into the villa, paranormal events start recurring. The ghost club decides to take matters into their hands and solve the mystery of the typewriter.

Amit has commissioned a person to steal the typewriter but when the plan falls through, he doesn’t shirk away from bumping him off. Amit’s obsession with the typewriter has to do with a family secret he is guarding, and Jisshu wholeheartedly embodies the ambivalence of the character who appears villainous but is a devoted son bent on setting the soul of his father — believed to be trapped inside the typewriter — free.

Watch it on: Netflix

Skyfire

Skyfire is a sci-fi web series directed by Soumik Sen, adapted from Aroon Raman’s novel of the same name. The series deals with the two crucial social issues of climate change and rising population, and features Jisshu Sengupta in yet another negative role as philanthropic businessman Harshvardhan Dharma. In the show, India is faced with an unprecedented crisis due to uncanny weather disturbances that lead to epidemics. Harshvardhan and his wife Vaishali (Anindita Bose) reach out to the disaster-affected people with medical aid. But Harshvardhan takes his environmental activism too far when, along with his co-conspirator Khatri (Shataf Figar), he plans to punish the public for their blatant disregard of mother nature.

Watch it on: ZEE5

P.I. Meena

Jisshu Sengupta will next be seen in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming web series P.I. Meena. The show was a part of the content slate announced at the ‘Amazon Prime Video Present India’ ceremony held in Mumbai in July 2022. Written by Arindam Mitra and directed by Debaloy Bhattacharya, P.I. Meena will be headlined by actress Tanya Tanya Maniktala. Vinay Pathak, Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Samir Soni will play key roles in the show.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video

Brown

Directed by Abhinay Deo and created by Suri Gopalan in collaboration with Abheek Barua, Brown is an upcoming ZEE5 series to be headlined by Karisma Kapoor. Jisshu plays a pivotal character in this neo-noir thriller series. The story follows Rita Brown (Karisma), who is addicted to alcohol and is suicidal, who is followed by a serial killer. The show also stars Surya Sharma and Soni Razdan in significant roles.

Watch it on: ZEE5