Actor Amit Sial, who reprises his role in web series Kathmandu Connection 2, believes thrillers are the flavour of the season

Mona

Aplane hijack, a compromised peace summit and an attack on the country’s sovereignty, the connecting threads lead to Nepal…Kathmandu Connection 2 is back and with it DCP Samarth Kaushik!

While this cop retains his flair for unsolved crimes, he’s not the same man. Ousted from police, his wife has left him, taking their child along. Deserted and lonely, he dons a new look. The man who plays Samarth, Amit Sial, is all excited about the new season. “More than an actor, the pressure is on the creator. An actor is but a small part in the whole scheme of things,” he says.

On Season 2, he says, “It takes a leap of about four-five years. Samarth is not the same. Lonely and aloof, he’s totally different. A lot of mental as well as physical preparation went into the role.” Apart from the season one cast, Anshumaan Pushkar and Gopal Datt, Prashant Narayanan and Hasleen Sethi join the sequel.

Good going

With films like Charlie Ke Chakkar Mein, Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi, Love Sex Aur Dhokha and Qala to his credit, along with web series like Inside Edge, Mirzapur and Jamtara, Amit is inspired by the legendary actor Amitabh Bachcahan.

Born and brought up in Kanpur, UP, the world of cinema fascinated Amit while growing up. “I would come out of the hall and enact Amitabh Bachchan for the next few hours! At that time, I didn’t know about the hard work that goes into the craft.” He headed to Delhi for college and then joined Barry John School of acting. Life took him to Melbourne and as luck would have it, he became good friends with Randeep Hooda and when the latter headed to Mumbai for a Ram Gopal Varma film, so did Amit. “Randeep knew about my penchant for films and paved my way back to Mumbai. The rest, as they say, is history,” he says.

As for crime sagas, he opines, “When solving a crime, the viewer also becomes a detective! No wonder, thrillers are the flavour of the season.”

Power game

About the latest ‘boycott trend’, he believes. “Boycott is not just a Hindi film industry phenomenon. ‘Cancel culture’ is pervading the world, as people have too much power in their hands via social media. The only way is to continue working hard in one’s space.”

There are a whole lot of directors that Amit wishes to work with, “And, not just in Mumbai, I would love to be part of Marathi and Telugu industry. And if I could, work with Martin Scorsese,” he adds.

Amongst his upcoming projects is a web series, Commando, with Vipul Shah, couple of films and web projects. Meanwhile, Kathmandu Connection Season 2 will stream on Sony LIV from December 23.

The Punjabi connect

Amit Sial is a Punjabi, but struggles to speak the language. “My mother holds it against me that I cannot speak Punjabi but I was born and raised in UP, so though I can understand, I struggle to speak the language.” He is fond of Chandigarh. “I remember distinctly the day when I visited Chandigarh as a kid. With its beautiful roundabouts, the city won my heart.” Shooting bring him to Punjab often, “It’s like getting back to the roots – bade dil ke log and amazing khana; it is always a pleasure to be back to Punjab.”