Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi may be the big names in Farzi, but quietly finding a place for himself in the spotlight that the Amazon Prime Video series has received is Bhuvan Arora. The actor, who plays Shahid’s character Sunny’s closest pal and partner in crime in the business of counterfeiting currency, has been singled out for praise in every review and is also receiving a lot of attention both from the industry and the audience. A chat with Bhuvan.

Given how much praise your portrayal of Firoz in Farzi has been getting since its release, it must have been quite an overwhelming ride for you so far...

Just this morning I got a message from (producer-director) Karan Johar saying, ‘You are superb on the show’. That’s really stuck with me since the morning and I have been, ‘Oh my God!’ I took a screenshot and sent it to my family immediately.

It’s been insane, ya! People are showing such kind gestures and I don’t know how to respond to them. There has been so much love pouring in. I am also learning along the way because it’s the first time that I have received such overwhelmingly positive reviews for my work. I am just taking one day at a time. I read all the messages I get and I try and respond to as many as I can. But it’s practically impossible for me to do that. I want to make a big dedication video for all the people who have shown love to me.

Your screen time is almost as much as Shahid’s, and yet I believe you initially didn’t want to audition for the role. Why?

I was a little sceptical because the audition script that was sent to me was short. I never really say ‘no’ to auditions until and unless it’s totally crap. And that doesn’t really happen a lot with me because over orward. When I met Raj & DK, they were very supportive. They said that they had been testing for this character for a long time. They said they were glad they found me (smiles).

In fact, Mukesh Chhabra (casting director) is the one who vouched for me when it came to Raj & DK. He showed them an ad that I had done and he told them that once they saw it, they wouldn’t be able to say ‘no’ to me. And that’s what happened. The casting for Firoz has gone on for the longest time. They were not getting the right guy for the part.

A lot of it must have been in the script, but what was your personal approach towards playing Firoz?

We had to do a lot of technical prep because we had to know how to print currency notes. The makers were very clear that the show may be called Farzi but nothing that we do should look fake on screen! (Laughs)

However, Shahid bhai (Kapoor) and I didn’t get a lot of time to spend together before the shoot. And this is a show that required a lot of chemistry and camaraderie between our characters. We basically met only one day before the shoot (smiles). We spent an hour chatting and did a recce of the printing press in Goa. I told him, ‘We haven’t spent any time together. How am I going to do it? Our chemistry has to look great’. And he was like, ‘Don’t worry, we are going to soar!’

One thing that I told Shahid bhai is that he has to think he is shooting with Ishaan (Khatter, Shahid’s brother), and that he would have to tell me every time he felt I wasn’t doing things correctly in a shot. I told him, ‘You have to see Ishaan in me’ (smiles). He obliged and I am really thankful to him for that.

By the third day of the shoot, we were pretty much at it, we were flowing. He gave me a lot of room to perform and he was very accommodating. He’s so much senior to me and for someone like him to give me so much leverage was very important. Otherwise, Firoz wouldn’t have been able to shine.

Plus, it’s up to every director to make an actor understand the gravity of his or her role. And Raj & DK did that. They never wanted to approach Firoz’s part as a typical, cliched friend. And after I did the first scene, Raj sir walked up to me and said, ‘Bhuvan, you are totally selling it! I am so happy we found you’ (smiles). That gave me so much confidence.

Bhuvan (right) with Shahid Kapoor in Farzi, streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Bhuvan is a character with so many shades and offers scope to play around with his portrayal. Were there any touches you brought in yourself?

I did a lot of things. I used to find an element in every scene that I could do. Raj & DK were always building on the character, it wasn’t always constant. As makers, they don’t stick to the script in such a way that leaves no room for improvisation.

I had to bring in the Mumbaiyya accent. I am a Delhi guy who has been living in Bombay for about nine years, but before Farzi, I had never had to do a Mumbaiyya accent for any role. I put on a little weight for the part and did my hair in a certain way. I did the basics of what an actor is supposed to do. If one doesn’t bring in these little touches, then one is not an actor... he is just a mannequin. Something was expected out of me as an actor and I did a lot of improvisation and if they kept all of them, then Farzi would end up as a 10-episode show! (Laughs)

With a character like Firoz, there is a tendency to go overboard. Firoz is anyway a little loud in life and while improvising, I had to tread this very fine line and not go overboard and end up making him look caricaturish. I had to make him look convincing all the time.

What Firoz and Sunny (Shahid’scharacter) do in the show is illegal, and yet the audience roots for them, feels empathetic towards them when they are losing the game. That only comes in if your character has a certain relatability. The innocence that Firoz had on paper had to come across and not be lost. Sunny is the silent type, and it’s up to Firoz to bring out their feelings. That became a little challenging for me and I didn’t want to overact. But Raj & DK always assured me that they would chop out anything that felt out of place during editing and they wouldn’t allow me to look bad.

Have the accolades that have come in make up for all those years of waiting for a breakout part?

knew I was okay with my craft and they gave me a lot of appreciation, but the kind of no-holds-barred love I have got for Farzi is a first for me. I constantly kept working, and that’s how I survived in Bombay. But Farzi has put me on the map. It is definitely my breakout performance, though I have given my 100 per cent to every role that I have done so far.

Everything takes time. Nawazuddin Siddiqui and so many other great actors have hustled their way up. They work for years and years and then one performance comes along and people sit up and say, ‘Oh my God! Where the hell was he?!’ He was right here, no one saw him! Farzi, I feel, will do that for me.