Priyanshu Painyuli had a great 2020, as the actor started the year portraying the role of Amir Asif in Extraction and ended it playing Robin in Mirzapur 2. Both the characters, according to him, redefined his journey and gave him recognition. He’s thankful to the web for churning out well-etched narratives that connect with the audience.

“Web is definitely providing us with a ground to experiment. The characters would have been different if they were in films. And the fact that both are web projects, it does help you reach a wider audience,” he says.

Looking forward to start the next season of Mirzapur hopefully in 2021, Painyuli adds that he knew about the “craziness” around the show, but experienced it firsthand only after being a part of it. “What Mirzapur 2 did for me is special. I haven’t got this much recognition so far from any other project. Robin and his ‘Yeh Bhi Theek hai’ dialogue have resonated with the audience. There are so many memes and jokes around it,” he says.

Painyuli, who made his web debut with Bang Baaja Baaraat in 2015, says nobody saw such upcoming web boom at that point of time.

“The show was experimental and did well. But there’s a catch. In a theatre, when someone buys a ticket, they usually sit through those two hours. But a web show need to keep the interest level high, or else the viewer would switch to some other show,” says Painyuli, who’s worried that the move around censorship of web content might affect the authenticity on the medium. “You can stick to authentic stories on the web while some demand certain things. I didn’t find anything wrong in the nudity in Game of Thrones or cuss words in Mirzapur 2 because those worlds are like that,” he notes.