The deliciously dark romantic thriller Freddy streams on Disney+Hotstar today. Playing the titular character — a shy, sociopathic dentist who blurs the line between love and obsession — is Kartik Aaryan. This is the young actor’s darkest role yet, and if the trailer is any indication, audiences are in for a thrill ride. The Telegraph chatted with Kartik — who has been having a dream run, with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 being one of the biggest bona fide hits of the year — on what it took on his part to become Freddy, how he remains grounded despite his sudden success and why he likes being a ‘padha likha actor’.

Belated birthday wishes (Kartik turned 32 on November 22). What are your fondest memories of your birthday as a kid and what’s the mainstay of your celebrations now?

Like everyone else, my memories of my birthday as a kid are of spending it in school and then with my family. Cutting cakes with friends and family and distributing toffees in school and wearing new clothes.

Now, of course, the celebrations have widened to my friends within the Bollywood industry. I had a party this year, which was attended by my close friends from the industry. There was an intimate celebration with mom and dad too.

The teaser of my next film Shehzada (that releases in theatres on February 10 next year) also released, and that was a cause of celebration. The fact that it was so well-received made it a big day for me. The way this year has gone for me, my birthday celebrations simply took that happiness forward.

When we had spoken before the release of your film Dhamaka late last year, you had said that a major reason for you to play Arjun Pathak in that film was the fact that he was grey. Freddy seems to be completely dark. Was that the predominant hook, given that you haven’t played outright negative before?

I am a member of the audience myself... I watch everything (smiles). Something like a dark thriller where the character I am playing may be grey or completely dark... that’s something I really enjoy. This film shows the origin story of this man called Freddy... how he became Freddy. It starts with him being a normal guy and what happens to him which makes him become so dark. I really enjoyed playing him.

You put on a massive 14kg for the role and also observed a dentist at work. What was the internal prep to play Freddy?

I shut myself out from everyone for a while. I didn’t meet my friends... I didn’t go out and meet a lot of people. I mostly kept to myself. Freddy is a loner and a large part of my preparation to play him involved being alone.

I also did a lot of workshops to get into the skin and the mind space of the character. I had to work on quite a few things in order to catch on to the body language of this character. I had to spend a lot of time in internalising this feeling of a guy who has a monotonous life and doesn’t have any friends. He’s also someone who is low on confidence. He’s not someone who can smartly walk into a room with his head held high. I had to include all of these things within myself... bahut chhoti chhoti cheezon pe dhyan diya hain. The workshops I did helped me a lot in getting the nuances right.

And, of course, I had to put on quite a bit of weight. This is a guy who is quite bored in life. I even had a different playlist of songs that I would listen to when I was shooting this film. I am glad that I did so many things because at least I feel that it’s all come together beautifully in the film.

Kartik Aaryan in Freddy that streams on Disney+Hotstar today

Is this the most emotionally taxing character that you have played so far?

This definitely is one of the most emotionally taxing people I have played. Freddy’s portrayal required a lot of darkness, there are many emotional moments in the film.... For this character, I had to internalise a lot of things; if I didn’t, it would have fallen flat from the get-go. Everything that Freddy experiences and does had to become very real for me... otherwise it wouldn’t work. I had literally become Freddy during the time we made this film!

So are you qualified enough to pull out someone’s teeth?

I haven’t tried it yet! I don’t think I would like to do it! (Laughs) And not many would want to risk it with me too!

You are a rare Bollywood actor in 2022 with high box-office cred. Given that your films are looked forward to now, has that thought ever crossed your mind that Freddy could have been a theatrical release?

Freddy was always designed for a (streaming) platform. Even the scenes were written like that... ki agar koi viewer akele bhi dekh raha ho film, then he or she would enjoy it. To be honest, the team has had that moment where we have thought that why can’t we release this in theatres and stuff like that, but then we realised that we had to remain true to the idea of the film.

This is a dark romantic thriller, which is best suited to release on streaming. So more than anything else, this has been a creative call because this film was never meant for the theatres. We have remained true to the film. If we had released this in theatres, then we would have had to omit several things from Freddy, and that would have meant that the film would lose its essence.

The huge success of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has spurred talk of you being the biggest Gen Y star in Bollywood... many are saying that this is going to be the era of Kartik Aaryan. How do you handle this attention and chatter and what still keeps you grounded?

I am not that kind of a person who is suddenly going to start flying high because of all the attention and all the talk. Yes, I am happy with the success that is coming my way, I know that the chatter around me now is high and positive... but I am not the kind of guy who will be screaming from the rooftops or be massively expressive about it.

I know that this is temporary, I am well aware of that. It can go away with one Friday and it can come back with another Friday. I hope that all my Fridays are like my last film (smiles) and the kind of track record that I have had so far, I can only pick and choose films hoping that I am able to sustain that consistently. That has always been my intent.

Being grounded is the only state of being for me. I don’t know how to be anything else... I will always be like this. And even people around me — especially my mom and dad — keep me grounded.

Is that why your bio on all your social media handles is ‘BTech?’

Padha likha actor hoon! (Laughs) As actors, we can’t really flaunt a resume, so maine apne social media bio mein daal diya!