Anurag Thakur feels he’s nothing like Haryanvi jailor Vipin Dahiya, the character he plays to perfection in the Netflix series Black Warrant created by Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh. Hailing from Bihar and now living in Mumbai, Anurag, who’s been doing theatre for close to 14 years, chatted with The Telegraph Online about his character graph in Black Warrant, his learnings from his talented co-stars and his reaction on receiving praise from Ranbir Kapoor.

What has the response been like to Black Warrant? Did you get any special message for your performance?

Anurag Thakur: It has been great. I am getting a lot of messages. People are showering love. Ranbir Kapoor messaged me! What can be bigger than this? He wrote that he watched the series and found me to be an incredible talent. He congratulated me and sent me good wishes.

How did you prepare for a character like Vipin Dahiya who is so raw, flamboyant and fun?

Anurag Thakur: I think there is a Dahiya and a Sunil (Kumar Gupta, played by Zahan Kapoor) in everyone. I have done theatre for close to 14 years. I have a friend-cum-roommate from Haryana who taught me the accent. He also doesn’t speak much Haryanvi as he is into dubbing and needs to keep his accent clean. He guided me on the Haryanvi body language and how they walk in a relaxed manner. He gave a few references but I didn’t want to follow it to the tee. I read the script and then made up the character as per the script. It is so beautifully written that half the work was done.

In the beginning, Vipin Dahiya is introduced as a tertiary character in Black Warrant but as the story unfolds, he becomes one of the key players. What do you feel about this journey?

Anurag Thakur: I did my graduation in English Literature and have read plays. So, I always had an idea about character graphs and what would be the approach. As an actor, we should know what we are supposed to do and what we aren’t. We should understand whose scene it is and not indulge in unnecessary things to appear smart. My character isn’t introduced as one of the key characters but it comes to the forefront as the script moves forward.

How did you work on your character’s transition from a not-so-lovable fellow to someone who put things in order in Tihar Jail?

Anurag Thakur: It was my choice to play it like that. I also felt that as an actor, I should bring something to the table. When I spoke to Satyanshu sir before and during the shoot, he told me that Dahiya is like a child who is left in an amusement park and he wants to get on all the rides. The jail is like an amusement park for him. He is very comfortable in jail from the very beginning. He is relaxed. His flamboyance comes from the fact that he looks up to DSP Rajesh Tomar. He wants to become Tomar. I wanted to wear the wristwatch on my right hand since Tomar saab wears it and later shift it to my left hand when my character goes against him but continuity would have been an issue, so we didn’t do it.

The early ’80s Tihar Jail sequences in Black Warrant are grim and disturbingly real. How was it for the actors on the set?

Anurag Thakur: We shot at Chitrakoot studio in Mumbai. It was an indoor set. We were not aware of the time as we used to go inside in daylight and come out when it was dark. The detailing was apt and real. The phansi kothi (hanging courtyard) was something I had no experience of. I hadn’t even seen it in a film. That was one moment where I had thought of alienating myself because I was playing Dahiya, who can’t get affected by it.

Your character beats up the prisoners incessantly. Was it a difficult experience? Anurag Thakur: No, I had fun. Interestingly, the action direction was also by Dahiya...Vikram Dahiya! (Laughs) I rehearsed and the belt with which I was beating was made of sponge. The actors were also so good that they made it look natural.

The friendship that develops between the three key characters, Sunil Kumar Gupta, Shivraj Singh Mangat and Vipin Dahiya, is at the core of the plot…

Anurag Thakur: It was organic! More than friendship, it was like love. Like you meet someone, start liking, then you meet often, get to know more and eventually fall in love. And when you are working with great actors, they are neutral, so you don’t worry about getting judged.

I have been a big fan of Paramvir (Cheema, who plays Shivraj Singh Mangat) since Tabbar. Zahan Kapoor (Sunil Kumar Gupta) never behaves like he is the grandson of Shashi Kapoor. In our minds, there was never the thought of whose scene it was; it was always ‘our’ scene. We used to speak to the director about their requirements and then we delivered as a unit. We used to focus on the outcome rather than our performances. I also learnt a lot just by looking at Rahul Bhat, who played DSP Rajesh Tomar. His memory is very sharp. He knows the scene graph. He knows what he is doing. He has so much experience. There’s a lot to learn from him.

In one of your Instagram posts, we see you hugging Black Warrant creator Vikramaditya Motwane. What kind of discussions did you have with him?

Anurag Thakur: It was after the wrap of Dahiya’s character. It was my last shot, so I got emotional. The best thing about Vikram sir is that he doesn’t talk much. He lets you do it. He only speaks when it is needed. He told me that Vipin Dahiya is someone who used to get a kick out of killing ants when he was a child. Dahiya has childhood trauma. He enjoys beating people, but he stops after a certain point. I had to decide on that journey in my head. Vikram sir expressed on the third or fourth day that I understood the character graph properly.

You have been doing theatre for many years and you write too. You were in the SonyLIV series Garmi and Freedom at Midnight, and Nikkhil Advani’s film Vedaa, but the audience is looking at you as a newcomer. How do you feel about it?

Anurag Thakur: I am new, only for the audience. People know me because of Black Warrant and because it is on Netflix and produced by Applause Entertainment and Andolan Films. Otherwise, why would people trust me? I was not noticed in Vedaa and Garmi. I was appreciated in Garmi too but not many people watched it, or maybe it wasn’t promoted well.

When I did theatre in Delhi, we used to have discussions on our thoughts, characters, relationships and many things besides acting. I had started writing poetry, for which I was appreciated. We had formed our theatre group also where I still perform. Acting isn’t new for me. It’s just that people are noticing me now and good that I am getting noticed at the right time. If people had discovered me five years ago, they would have picked many faults in me. I still make mistakes, and I have a lot to learn.

You must have heard this before that you look a bit like actor and casting director Abhishek Banerjee.

Anurag Thakur: Oh, I get that a lot from people. I take it as a compliment. He is a very versatile actor. The similarity is perhaps because of the haircut or the shape of our face, though our acting styles are different.