'VIOLENCE IS A PIECE OF ART'

'As long as violence has the right arc, it is very meaningful.'

After romancing pretty women on television and winning many, many, hearts nationwide, Barun Sobti is almost unrecognisable in his new avatar, and he is loving every bit of it.

As Barun makes waves in the Netflix series Kohraa,

What was your state of mind when you were doing an intense Web series like Kohrra? 

Oh, I had a ball doing it!

I was given a lot of liberty to bring to the fore this layered human being, who’s a cop and who should be seen as a human being. Usually, cops are seen only as cops. A majority of defence characters are (played as) unidimensional heroes.

You know, punch one person and a 100 people fly!

But here, the idea was to make it as real as possible.

I didn’t want to repeat one single cinematic moment.

Basically, the thing is that actors, after a point of time, try to replicate the hit formula. They try to act the moment they have seen on screen.

I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to draw from real life.

I was realistic, so I thought it could go either south or very well.

Thankfully, when I started understanding the nuances and the script, and everyone started appreciating my work, I felt I was going in the right direction.

But Kohraa has really taken off and people are talking about it so passionately.

Conversations with people used to be different.

Initially, they would be like, can I take a picture with you and stuff.

Now, that has changed.

Now, people want to talk about it. They are very passionate about it.

Kohrra has a lot violence, and your character does a lot of it. Did it ever make you uneasy? 

Yes, it did.

But violence is a piece of art. It has to be done right. As long as violence has the right arc, it is very meaningful.