Powerhouse performers Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sensharma come together on screen for the first time in the intriguingly titled Killer Soup. The eight-episode series, streaming on Netflix today, is created and directed by Abhishek Chaubey, the man behind films like Ishqiya, Udta Punjab and Sonchiriya, among others.

Killer Soup, set in the fictional south Indian town of Mainjur, has Manoj playing two characters and boasts an eclectic ensemble cast comprising his Shool co-star Sayaji Shinde along with veterans Nassar and Lal. Over a fun and freewheeling chat, The Telegraph caught up with Manoj, Konkona and Sayaji on their latest release.

Killer Soup is such a crazy, dark, funny ride. The idea, I know, emanated from a newspaper headline which well and truly illustrates that truth is stranger than fiction. What was your first reaction when you were told about the idea?

Konkona Sensharma: When I first read the script, I was in disbelief. I got till Episode 3 and then there was a break and revisions were made for Episode 4 and I was sent Episodes 4 and 5. Every time I would read an episode, I would message Abhishek (Chaubey, the creator-writer-director of the show) saying: ‘It is mad. I mean, what can happen next? What will happen? What else will come in?!’ I was quite incredulous.
Manoj Bajpayee: I was stuck in Uttarakhand during the lockdown and that is when Abhishek called me. He gave me just one line and said that it was taken from a headline. He told me he would speak to me in detail when I got back to Mumbai. When I came back to Mumbai, the first thing I did was to land at his office. He spoke to me about the story, which they were developing anyway. They were working on the bible (a reference document used by screenwriters for information on characters, settings and other elements of a project).
Konkona: But that time also, it sounded crazy, no?
Manoj: Crazy! It was quite crazy! And when I read the first episode, I started laughing. I was not reading it alone. Abhishek used to call me to the office and read it out. I could see the world of Killer Soup unfolding right in front of my eyes and I was taken aback. This is not something that one has heard or seen before. I think I am somebody who watches a lot of content....
Konkona: You do watch enough, unlike me.
Manoj: All the time! I have always been a big, big fan of the Coen Brothers. All I could put my finger on was the fact that Killer Soup was very much like what the Coens do, but somehow it takes it further. And yet, it is something else. What that ‘something else’ is, I don’t have words to describe even now, though we have shot it and it is ready for release.
Konkona: It is Abhishek’s style, I think.

I love the fact that at various vantage points, the show seems to deliberately be going out of control and yet he reins it in so beautifully...

Manoj: Yes, and whenever things start to make sense, Sayaji Shinde’s character (Arvind) pops in to add to the chaos! (Laughs)
Sayaji Shinde: When I first met Abhishek, I told him: ‘Let’s listen to the story.’ After two episodes, I said: ‘Stop now!’ (Laughs)
Manoj: One needs time to process it....
Sayaji: Yes. The script has a constant element of ‘What will happen next?’ I went back a little later for the next two episodes, but in the interim, I kept thinking about what would happen next. But whatever I thought of, Abhishek would come up with something totally different. And this happened four times! For the first time in my life, even after so many narrations, I couldn’t guess what could happen next.

In what ways is Killer Soup a typical Abhishek Chaubey project and in what ways it isn’t?

Manoj: In many ways it is and in many ways, it is not. I like the fact that the show never judges Swati’s (played by Konkona) character. You can see that even in his films like Ishqiya and Dedh Ishqiya. This is where the director comes in, this is where Abhishek is reflected. In the rest of Killer Soup, I felt that he was in the process of exploring, especially with the other characters. But with Swati, he looks up to her.
Konkona: I agree with Manoj. Abhishek’s speciality is his macro view as well as his micro view... in the sense of understanding and highlighting human behaviour. He takes a macro angle and we see how all these characters come together.

He also plays well with elements of comedy and the absurd. There are elements of the absurd in his other films as well. But because this is a series, there are many such elements that you can bring in. And he doesn’t repeat himself, he likes to explore other areas. But he never lets go of the understanding of human behaviour.
Sayaji: He is a great director. There may be a lot of tension on set, but he remains cool.
Manoj: In any situation. It may rain, it may be so that an actor isn’t performing the way he wants, but he is always calm. He is always ready to help and he keeps thinking of a way out.

Manoj and Konkona, before Killer Soup, the two of you had never worked together. Did that opportunity never present itself? What was it like being on set and feeding off each others’ energies as actors? And Konkona, you had two Manojs to contend with!

Konkona: (Laughs) One Manoj I liked and one Manoj I didn’t like! Jab Prabhu (Prabhakar, played by Manoj) would come on set, mera mood kharab ho jaata tha! (Manoj laughs). Very loud, both in terms of his behaviour and his clothing, burping continuously and treating Swati badly, behaving so uncouthly. So I used to be like: ‘Oh ho, again he has come!’

I used to love Umesh (also played by Manoj)... such a sweet, understanding, gentle guy who Swati could boss around. And the third one was Umesh trying to be Prabhu! That is a whole other character he has done. It is not a double role, it is a triple role! We used to call him ‘Pramesh’ because yeh Umesh bhi nahi hain, Prabhakar bhi nahi hain, yeh ho gaya Pramesh. Even Swati herself would get confused sometimes and whatever anger and frustration she had towards Prabhu, she would take out on bechara Umesh. Umesh was also confused that yeh kya ho raha hain? This show has very interesting interpersonal dynamics.

I always wanted to work with Abhishek and I am grateful I got to work with him in such an extensive way. I wanted to work with Manoj and considering both of us have been working for so long, I am amazed that we have never been cast in the same film even as an ensemble.
Manoj: Nobody offered us anything before this series. It is not like that we were offered a project and we said ‘no’.
Konkona: It never occurred to anybody to cast us together, and that is especially surprising because we work in a similar space. Even the rest of the cast, as you must have seen, is so kickass. It is not the typical cast from Bombay. These are people even we don’t get to work with and they uplift the whole project, whether it is Lal sir, Nassar sir, Kani (Kusruti)... the whole thing became very genuine, very authentic which is helpful.

Interestingly, you touched upon authenticity because I feel that the South Indian milieu lends itself so beautifully to the story of Killer Soup. So far, in the streaming space, we have normally been shown such raw, edgy stories happening in the Hindi heartland. How did the backdrop, according to you, lend itself to the story? And Konkona, you have also spoken quite a bit of Tamil, and very well I must say....

Konkona: What is nice is that it is not generic. All these details make it a very specific context and I truly believe that the more specific it is, the more authentic it is. The more believable it is, the more universal it is. This journey from being specific to universal happens in those details... a particular time, a particular place, a particular kind of person. Your character (turns to Sayaji), the kind of business mogul that he is, he cannot exist in Bombay. He is a big guy in this small city called Mainjur. The clout that he has, the kind of person he is.. even in the production design, It’s all there in those little details. And that is also part of the culture of this larger-than-life kind of a persona.
Manoj: Even four-five years ago, nobody could think of a Tamil character being played by Tamil actors in a Hindi show or film. That move in itself lends so much authenticity. Even when they try to speak in Hindi, their Hindi is not Hindi, but it is their way of speaking a language which they are not familiar with. The moment you resort to such authenticity, a project extends its reach.

Among the three of us, Sayaji Shinde, because he has worked in those film industries for so long, is so good with both Tamil and Telugu. But she (Konkona) and I were having a tough time with our Tamil dialogues, whatever little we had to speak.
Sayaji: What Manoj had to do in this web series, was very, very challenging. He always works with a lot of passion, but he has surpassed himself here. His characters have so many shades. He is capable of playing two or three characters at the same time!

Konkona, Swati is cruelly ambitious and has no redeeming qualities. Was there an effort to humanise her or did the script demand that be the way she is?

Konkona: She had to be like that because how else would she have accomplished what she wanted to accomplish? She started in Episode One saying: ‘Mujhe restaurant kholna hain’ and she accomplished it in the final episode, come what may in between. I feel like when you are being a character, sometimes you can’t see it as a whole. That is why you have a director who is steering you all the way.

I tried to believe everything that Swati was doing. This is what has to be done and how else will she manage the situation? For her, it was for a larger cause, for a greater good, without getting into the morality of it. She is just constantly doing what needs to be done. I didn’t think it needed to be humanised. I didn’t view it or articulate it like that. But in my head, I believed that we would have to do this!

There are larger evils than Swati in this story. But those evils have been normalised. The larger evils of patriarchy, how Swati is continuously dismissed, what all the Shetty brothers have been up to... they are sociopaths in their own way. That is completely normalised.

Manoj, between Prabhakar and Umesh, which was the more difficult character to pull off?

Manoj: Prabhakar has a very definite character and Umesh has a very definite backstory. But when you are doing a mix of the two, you don’t know which one should be visible at that moment. To manipulate that required a lot of effort. Let me not take any credit, I was always very unsure, I was confused. I always had to think about when to limp and when not to limp. When to limp with the wrong leg....
Konkona: And when to limp with continuity (laughs)!
Manoj: Also, to figure out when I had to be Prabhakar in terms of my voice texture and when to be Umesh. And when it has to be just the mix of it. It involved too much thinking and yet most of the time, I couldn’t reach a conclusion. It became torture, suffering from that kind of uncertainty. I would look at my director and find that he himself was exploring and not giving me a concrete answer (laughs). Together we were trying our best to find some kind of a moment or some pitch, something which is just right for that situation. The only answer that Abhishek used to have was: ‘Sir, achha toh lag raha hain. Aagey chalte hain!’ (Everyone laughs.)

I am sure that uncertainty must have been also exciting and stimulating to some extent....

Manoj: Definitely! It was like attending a workshop. All the time, we were undoing and unlearning and also learning at the same time. We were trying to break new ground. Yes, you go through that kind of miserable situation when you are doing it. But when your director is with you, that is comforting because you know that you are not alone in this journey. That kind of assurance was always there. But he was giving me space to explore, be confused and try and find something which was interesting and exciting for that moment.

To end on a light note, what for you would be a killer soup, and by that I mean something that comforts you, especially in winter?

Manoj: Tom Kha, Tom Yum. I love Thai food, so any Thai soup is something I just go for. I just love it!
Konkona: I love a good, spicy clear soup. But because you said winter, I am going to say something nice and creamy and buttery. Like maybe a French onion soup. That’s also yummy. And rasam also, you can count it as soup.
Sayaji:Ghar ki dal is the best!

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