Actor Priyanshu Painyuli is having mixed feelings as Mirzapur Season 3 has become a hit but his character, Robin, has ended. Priyanshu talked to us about his Mirzapur journey, his chemistry with co-actor Harshita Shekhar Gaur, and his aspirations as an actor.

You must be going through mixed emotions as Mirzapur 3 became the highest-watched crime show on Prime Video but you won’t be a part of it anymore.

Priyanshu Painyuli: I am taking it in a good spirit seeing the response the show has got. This time, the makers tried to do something very different with the show – the plot and character graph. There’s more drama and conflict.

The way Robin dies is shocking. I got so many messages from friends from the industry and the audience saying that this is not acceptable. Robin can’t go like this. I think overall, structurally, this is what the makers wanted to do with the show. But it’s heartwarming to see that people connected so deeply with your character.

I like the fact that I've been able to make an impression with the character. I'm happy with the show’s success but I will miss being a part of it and miss playing this character. It is one of the most interesting characters I've played.

Why do you think Robin became popular, other than for his signature line ‘Yeh bhi theek hai’?

Priyanshu Painyuli: I did not realise while acting that people would love this line so much. I feel the character is very colourful. If you see the world of Mirzapur, Robin stands out because, unlike the others, he is not fighting for the throne. What’s interesting is that you don't know where he comes from – his background, his intentions, his real name. That makes him mysterious and interesting. And the idea of the mummy story changing every time also created curiosity.

When Robin tells Dimpy just for the sake of love, “My real name is Radheshyam Agarwal. Robin is just a get-up for the business”, you realize that all of this may be a façade. I call Robin a colourful chameleon.

He is not walking around with a gun. His power lies in the fact that he can speak very well, and he knows that other people's money is with him. So, he handles their weakness – turning black money into white money. I think these things make him an interesting character. That's why in Season 3, we tried to change the pattern that now he wants to shut down his business and wants to find love and family, which nobody is trying to do in Mirzapur.

What do you think is the USP of the Robin and Dimpy equation? How did you work on your chemistry with Harshita Shekhar Gaur?

Priyanshu Painyuli: We had to find the simplicity of these two people — that they want to be with each other, not to gain something out of it. Otherwise in the Mirzapur world, characters meet each other for some business. Sharad (Anjumm Shharma) and Madhuri (Isha Talwar) also start out like that but then slowly they fall in love. I think that’s what makes Robin and Dimpy different.

Dimpy is very simple. She's not fighting for or plotting against something. She's just looking for a good family. She's looking for people close to her and wants to just protect and love them. I think Robin also wants that. So, we just tried to play around that and everybody is saying that the honesty of their love story felt beautiful.

Harshita is a lovely person and a very good actor. On-screen, she's simple, but otherwise, she's got a lot of energy. We became very good friends. Although we come in bits and pieces, we worked on our character graphs because even if it is not seen, it has to be felt.

To be a part of such a large ensemble, an actor has to be secure about himself, right?

Priyanshu Painyuli: Yeah. When I entered Mirzapur Season 2, I had already watched Season 1 and I was a big fan of the show. The actors in the first season gained so much fan following and I was a fan of each of them. When you get to play a part like Robin, you have to fit into that world. Thankfully, there was no pressure to perform because everybody wanted to do their best and make the show big. Nobody wanted to hijack a scene. Here, they had already formed a beautiful family.

I knew Shweta Tripathi Sharma and Ali Fazal before joining the show. Gurmeet Singh was such a sweetheart director who was so open to collaboration. I just went in and did what I thought was best for the character. I was never insecure about having a few scenes. I knew that I was the hero of my chapter and I had to lead my story.

You’re headlining the show Paan Parda Zarda directed by your Mirzapur director Gurmeet Singh.

Priyanshu Painyuli: We have an inside joke going on that Guru killed me in Mirzapur but gave me the lead in Paan Parda Zarda. The world of this show is very exciting. We still have a little bit to shoot. The show also has Tanya Maniktala, Mona Singh, Sushant Singh, and Manu Rishi Chaddha. We are calling it a Romeo-Juliet love story in an opium world.

What are your favourite characters from Mirzapur?

Priyanshu Painyuli: I liked the way Bina’s (Rasika Dugal) character is written. Had Robin been alive, Bina and Robin should have gotten together. It would have been crazy because both of them can play mind games and manipulate people and could have done wonders.

I think any actor would love to play Munna Bhaiya (Divyenndu). Munna has so many shades. He's a lover boy. He wants to make this girl fall in love with him. I think every guy connected with that character because he wants to be the king. He wants to show that he has grown up and can take charge of things. But in front of his father, he can't say much.

What's happening on the international front for you after Extraction?

Priyanshu Painyuli: After Covid, the West became very strict with their shooting timelines. I missed out on a couple of opportunities because they wanted me to be there for a longer period. There was a series that I missed out on because I had committed to Pippa and other shoots here. For the past three years, I’ve been trying to manage work commitments. I'm happy they're liking my auditions. One of them should crack and hopefully, something big will happen again. I want to do as many global projects as possible.

How do you deal with the uncertainties of show business?

Priyanshu Painyuli: Initially, your challenges are very different. You are looking for acting assignments. When I came to Mumbai, I was just doing theatre. I gave many auditions and gained the casting directors’ trust that I could act. Even when I got Rock On 2, it was a four-scene role but I took it as an opportunity to prove myself. I've only been getting roles based on my previous work. Thankfully, I have got to work with filmmakers such as Vishal Bhardwaj, Navdeep Singh, Raja Krishna Menon, Vikramaditya Motwane and Gurmeet Singh who make the kind of cinema I would like to be a part of.

Having said that, when you don't get it, you wonder what you are doing. My motive has always been to keep doing something. My friends and I used to make short films and put those on YouTube. My partner Vandana and I have started our production company and we’re making an independent feature film which I wanted to write and direct for a long time.

I keep saying that an actor’s job is waiting. We need to know how to wait. Even on set, we have to wait for a long time to give that one shot. Then we have to wait for it to finish, edit, and come out, and then wait for the people to give us love, and then wait for the next project. I tell people who are coming to Bombay, please get a big bag of patience with you.