When it hit Netflix in early 2020, Jamtara grabbed eyeballs instantly because of the novelty of its milieu and storyline that explored the large-scale phishing scam that originates out of this district in Jharkhand. With Season 2 of the show also being met with good reviews and big numbers, The Telegraph chatted with cast members Monika Panwar, Anshumaan Pushkar and Sparsh Srivastava on the show.

Once the first season of a series becomes popular, the pressure is on the creators and writers to create a better follow-up. Does that pressure also impact the actors?

Anshumaan Pushkar: Pressure is always there, irrespective of the season. In fact, there is pressure in every scene to perform well. When the first season of a show does well, it does bring on additional pressure, but there is also additional confidence. In Season 2, the idea is to better the expectations that audiences have had after watching the first season.

Monika Panwar: In most cases, we have seen that the second season of highly successful shows doesn’t work as well as the first season, or don’t work at all. Most of us have started our careers with Jamtara and our director (Soumendra Padhi) has told us that people very easily consider someone’s success as a fluke, especially if their subsequent projects don’t do as well.

So Soum sir was like, ‘Aisa nahin lagna chahiye ki tumse galti se ho gaya’ (laughs). Season 1 of Jamtara did well, but we have to prove ourselves again and again. That kind of pressure is always there on any actor, or for that matter, on any creative person... you have to keep proving yourself.

In the case of Jamtara, it’s a very healthy pressure because of the strong script that we have and also because of our creators.

Sparsh Srivastava: In most cases, before the Season 2 of any show, people don’t take any pressure on themselves because they feel that with the first season, they have already created a loyal fanbase. They feel, ‘Ab toh Season 2 hamara chal hi jayega’.

But I feel that both makers and actors should take that pressure, in a healthy way. While we were workshopping for this season, the conscious decision made by all concerned was that we have to make Season 2 a hit. As Monika said, it was healthy pressure... and I strongly believe that diamonds are created only under pressure (smiles).

We have actually pushed each other to do better this season. My character Sunny is paralysed and Anshumaan’s character (Rocky) would keep pushing me to make my walk better by saying, ‘Yaar, mazaa nahin aa raha hain.’

Judging purely from a viewer’s perspective, why do you think Jamtara works so well as a show?

Anshumaan: Any story in the world proves to be enjoyable if it’s divided into the nine rasas. And Jamtara has all these nine rasas — joy (hasya), fear (bhayanaka), anger (raudra), love (shringar), courage (vira), sadness (karuna), amazement (adbhuta), disgust (vibhatsya) and calmness (shanti).

Jamtara has dark humour and crime and the story is highly relatable in this era of the Internet. Also, the part of India that this show explores has remained virtually untouched on screen. There have been some heartland films, but they didn’t explore the uniqueness of the milieu like Jamtara does.

Sparsh: I feel that Season 1 was a hit because the scams that we showed have happened to someone or the other at some point in their lives. But most of them didn’t know that this is called phishing and that it originates out of Jamtara.

Also, I think the chemistry between the characters and the short duration of the episodes which made the show highly binge-worthy really worked in its favour.

Monika Panwar as Gudiya

In what aspect, have your characters evolved in Season 2?

Anshumaan: My character Rocky came in with the kind of energy that made him feel that he can make or break the world. But life teaches him many things. Earlier, money was God for him, but he’s realised over time that there is more to life. In Season 2, survival becomes very important for Rocky. His way of judging right from wrong has changed.

Monika: Gudiya (her character) wanted to run away from her circumstances, but today she wants to take things head-on... she wants to stay on and fight back. When the stakes are as serious as life and death and she still doesn’t want to run away from her situation in life, I think that says a lot about how Gudiya has evolved. This kind of thinking has become Gudiya’s biggest strength. Our writer Trishant (Srivastava) has written Gudiya with a lot of detailing... her graph shows how things start changing when an underdog chooses to fight back.

Sparsh: In Season 1, Sunny has the characteristic of being a mastermind... his thinking is that, ‘Mujhse achha Jamtara mein koi scam nahin kar sakta.’ He is also physically able.

But at the end of Season 1, Sunny is shot and at the beginning of the second season we see that he has lost one of his legs. That is a huge loss. On top of that, he’s lost his father, his financial state isn’t good, he’s lost the status of being a mastermind... so in Season 2, Sunny is staring at some huge losses.

Sunny has always been someone who evades situations, he never wants to confront anything or anyone. He doesn’t want to fight with Brajesh Bhaan (played by Amit Sial). But in Season 2, he wants revenge against all those who have wronged him. His thirst for revenge gets him involved in what is perhaps his biggest scam yet. So a lot of layering and thought process has now been added to Sunny. He’s also become kind of mad (smiles). But his relationship with Rocky and Gudiya remains the same....

Before you were offered the show, were you aware of Jamtara and what it’s (in)famous for?

Sparsh: Not at all!

Anshumaan: I was aware because I am from Bihar and I know that area well. But I had no idea of the kind of large-scale scams that take place in Jamtara. When I came to know the details, I was gobsmacked!

Monika: Sparsh and I had no idea that a place called Jamtara even existed! So for us to even know that this is the hub of cyber crime was impossible. When one gets such calls, one always has the impression that the caller must be highly sophisticated and is calling from a big office. But when we came to know that the scenario is completely different and that these scam calls are actually made out of Jamtara, we were shocked!

The tagline of the show is ‘Sabka number aayega’. How far does it sum up the career that you have had so far?

Monika: Hamara number aa gaya hain... Jamtara has ensured that!

Sparsh: I agree. Almost everyone who has been associated with the show has done really well. Kaushal Shah, our cinematographer of the first season, has done some very big projects (like Gehraiyaan) after Jamtara. Jo bhi Jamtara se jud ta hain uska number aa jaata hain!