When Akshay Oberoi started his career with Isi Life Mein in 2010, he wanted to become the poster boy of Bollywood success. Over time, the industry taught him valuable lessons, imparting to him the importance of quality over quantity. The actor has since then built an impressive resume of digital offerings, choosing diverse roles that display his craft. In a quick chat, he discusses inhabiting the distinct worlds of his two shows — Amazon Prime Video’s Inside Edge 3 and Disney+ Hotstar’s Dil Bekaraar, an adaptation of Those Pricey Thakur Girls.

Edited excerpts from the interview

I read the book recently after shooting for the series. We have stuck to the source material. [Director] Habib Faisal may have tweaked a few things because he knows what works better for the visual language. If you ask Anuja Chauhan [the novel’s writer], I am sure she’ll tell you that the script respects the source material.

The show beautifully planted seeds for what we are doing today. In the start of the series, there is a dialogue: “It’s not like Prakash Padukone is bringing home a celebrity,” [which references today’s reality]. The seeds of modernisation were sowed then. [We are depicting] progressive families through the story. We were trying to be true to the decade and planting ideas that are relevant today.

I grew up in New Jersey and had no idea about cricket. I had not held a cricket bat until the show came my way. But Karan Anshuman and Kanishk Verma [director] met me for the role. The part is so relevant and addresses such a sensitive topic that I wanted to do it. I practiced cricket every day for two months. I had seen season one by the time I had signed the show. After coming on board, I watched the second season. By then, I had already fallen in love with cricket.

It is my job to represent society and this is a part of society that is underrepresented. It was a huge responsibility and an honour to play the part.

That is ridiculous. If the role is that of a murderer, do you have to cast a murderer? I have a skill set and have been working on my craft for 15-20 years. The point of acting is to get into somebody else’s shoes. The reason actors exist today is because they are paid to depict fractions of society that have nothing to do with them.

On the set, I was sensitive to the part and ensured that I didn’t make it caricaturish. The biggest victory was when the community reached out and thanked me for representing them accurately. That is more important to me than anything I have read. I experience love and sexuality as a human being. That is all that is needed to play the part. I am portraying feelings of love, and just because I am not part of the community, doesn’t mean I can’t represent it authentically.