Abhishek Banerjee has a reputation for playing the hero’s chattering buddy in a series of hit comedies – Stree (2018), Dream Girl (2019),...
Abhishek Banerjee has a reputation for playing the hero’s chattering buddy in a series of hit comedies – Stree (2018), Dream Girl (2019), Bala (2019). In the upcoming Amazon Prime Video web series Paatal Lok, Banerjee will be seen as the violent Vishal “Hathoda” Tyagi, who hammers people to death.
Hathoda Tyagi is the most dreaded among a gang of four killers out to assassinate media tycoon Sanjeev Mehra (Neeraj Kabi). Before they can carry out the job, they get arrested. The investigation is handed over to policeman Hathi Ram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat). The series, created by Sudip Sharma (NH10, Udta Punjab, Sonchiriya), will be out on May 15.
Banerjee, who is also a casting director and was working on Paatal Lok in that capacity, initially wanted to play Hathi Ram’s assistant, a role that ultimately went to Ishwak Singh.
“Here I was subconsciously putting myself in that position of being the sidekick again, until Sudip Sharma saw Stree and offered me Hathoda Tyagi’s role instead,” Banerjee recalled.
Known mostly for comic characters, Banerjee’s work as a sexual predator in Ajji (2017) and criminals in the web series Mirzapur (2018) and Typewriter (2019) has flown under the radar.
“The thing with the film industry is if you become popular in one kind of role, you keep getting cast in the same thing,” he said. “My first full-fledged role...
