Chunky Pandey is going through a bad phase, he is coming to know about his dark side. Thankfully, it’s on screen. He plays the role of a ruthless don in the new web series Griha Lakshmi. In a conversation with HT, the actor compared his character to Kevin Spacey’s iconic Keyser Soz from The Usual Suspects, talked about playing the villain and why he chased filmmakers for roles. ,Also read: Chunky Pandey feels his career ‘faded’ when Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan entered Bollywood,
chunky pandey on house lakshmi
Chunky agrees that Griha Lakshmi seemed like a ‘women-oriented’ show. He shares, “When they called me and told me that they were making a show called Grihalakshmi, I thought it looked like Ekta Kapoor was making something under the Balaji (Telefilms) banner. I asked them why. What are you making and do you really want to do this.” Will I fit in? Then, they gave me a statement, and I really liked it.”
In Griha Lakshmi, Chunky played the role of a don named Karim Qazi. “He’s a lot like Keyser Soz from The Usual Suspects,” says the actor. The world he’s created on the show, like Walter White from Breaking Bad, is great.”
After playing romantic heroes or comic sidekicks in his four-decade career, playing villains is new for Chunky. He admits, “For me, it was extra refreshing because there’s a little devil hiding inside of me. I think we all do that. It’s just that we keep them quiet. I’ve never seen a full-on monster on screen.” Didn’t play the role of a grown up don. Other villains I was associated with were fixers or sons of bad guys. This time, I’m the big villain.”
Chunky Pandey on his Bollywood journey
“It’s been a long journey on screen that started in the 80s,” says Chunky. He has seen a lot of ups and downs. But he says matter-of-factly, “I don’t regret anything in my life. I think you should enjoy the journey. The fun is in the journey, in this up-and-down roller coaster ride.”
The actor says he was able to reinvent himself over time because he actively pursued filmmakers for good roles. He tells us, “I’m lucky that I got these roles. But I looked for these roles. I kept hanging around people who were making these kinds of films and when I found out they had characters I was I wanted to follow them, so I followed them.” I was not afraid of doing two scenes in a film because people largely remember 2-3 scenes in a film, if you get one of those, the audience will remember you because one day, we will be destroyed. Only our work will remain.”
Griha Lakshmi also stars Hina Khan, Rahul Dev, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya. It will premiere on Epic On on January 16.
