Based on Indraneil Sanyal’s novel Karkat Kranti, Zee5’s new bilingual web-series Kark Rogue is a serial killer mystery set in the backdrop of the medical world. The Telegraph caught up with Indraneil Sengupta sometime ago. The actor plays police inspector Barun Sarkar, who’s been entrusted the job to capture the serial killer before he strikes again.

What excited you about the story of Kark Rogue?

I thought the story was very nice. I liked the narrative style, how it is told and I thought the characters were very interesting. Not only mine, but even Chitrangada (Satarupa)’s and Rajesh da’s (Sharma) characters are also interesting. But come what may, no matter how big budget, everything else is secondary to the story. If the story is interesting, everything falls in place. My character has shades, he’s a cop but has his own vulnerabilities and issues. That makes it more real, more humane. I thought that’s also a beauty of this story.

How did you prepare yourself to play a cop?

I completely relied on whatever we have seen in life, the script, the director’s vision and my understanding of his vision.

What excited you about working in the medical thriller genre?

There was a whole novelty in the whole atmosphere, the premise in which the story is based. It’s a thriller, a mystery involving deaths. We have seen that enough but to be set in the medical backdrop was interesting. It’s not exactly a murder mystery, it’s more of a medical investigation which leads to a criminal angle. I thought that was a very interesting path taken and I feel there’s a lot of realism in the story. It could happen because these things do happen in the medical industry. I thought it delves in the real space.

Did you speak to cancer patients or survivors to research more on the subject?

No, my character doesn’t really interact with cancer patients. I’m only looking at the criminal aspect of it. I think Chitrangada, who’s playing the role of an autopsy surgeon, went to the hospitals to meet patients. Utsav (Mukherjee, director) and she tried figuring out about cancer patients.

At a time when so many new web-series are jostling for space online, where do you think Kark Rogue would stand out?

There are many web shows that are being made and are jostling for space which have bigger names. But I feel our content is really interesting and whoever has seen it till now has good things to say about it. So, I’m really counting on the fact that people will spread the word around. We are very sure that the content would appeal to everyone, so try and watch it.

What do you enjoy the most about working in a web-series space?

I feel that acting as an art form has evolved a lot, the language of filmmaking has changed so much. Web-series is in that space of modern style of filmmaking and acting. Not acting enough is what acting is today. It’s more real, it’s the ordinary performances that stand out because you’re trying to not make it too dramatic. That is where the flavour of the performances in the web space is going to be relevant today and in the near future.

It’s a bilingual series. Was it difficult to simultaneously shoot in Hindi and Bengali?

Not that much. I had thought it’d be very difficult when I was told that every shot would be taken twice; I thought it’d be very time consuming and a real pain but it didn’t turn out to be like that. I think our directorial and camera team was really well prepared. Those technicalities made it fast. As an actor, you’ve already read your script and know your lines. You just have to say it in Bengali and then read the Hindi lines and again say it in Hindi. That is not a big deal. What takes time is the preparation to set up the shot and I think that was done very well by the team.

Which language are you most comfortable in?

I’m more comfortable in Hindi definitely. I never lived in Bengal, so I don’t really speak Bengali as such. I only speak Bengali when I act (laughs).

Does your wife Barkha Bisht Sengupta (the couple celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary recently) watch and give feedback about your work?

Barkha always does that and I’m always scared because she’s hyper-critical (laughs). She’ll always find some fault though she’s also appreciative at times. If she really likes it, she always says it. She promotes my shows more than I do. I’m very reluctant to put up posts on social media because I don’t like the whole idea of promoting my own thing… Barkha always puts up posts and promotes my stuff, she’s very sweet that way.

What are you currently binging on in the digital space?

I’ve just started watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and it’s brilliant. I can’t imagine how they’ve done the camera work and the choreography of the scenes.