Abhimanyu Dassani made quite an impression with his debut film Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (2019). In the last two years, the pandemic sent his schedule for a toss. While there would be phases when he would be at home due to the lockdown, there were also times when he had a packed schedule and shot for three films simultaneously. “It was a tough phase. I was working on three films at the same time — Nikamma, Aankh Micholi and Meenakshi Sundareshwar. I am a new actor and am not at a stage where filmmakers will shift dates for me, right? So, I was trying to be as accommodating as I could be,” says Abhimanyu.

He got a chance to work with senior actors like Shilpa Shetty in Nikamma and Paresh Rawal, Divya Dutta and Vijay Raaz in Aankh Micholi. Talking about working with them, he says, “It was very interesting to see some of these senior actors switching on and off in front of the camera. That is something I have wanted to learn. For a new actor like me, getting to see these actors doing it live was a much better experience than trying to practise it at home. ”

Abhimanyu says, “It was helpful, especially because I had to jump from one set to another and play different characters. It is a process that I am still learning. I am happy that it has helped me grow as an actor.”

Abhimanyu, who took a different path to step into the industry, with his debut movie being a festival film and his second being an OTT original, says that his aim is to surprise people with every move. “For me, it doesn’t matter if people see me on the big screen or their mobile phones. As an actor, the medium that I come on changes, but the process remains the same. Actors who say that they want to see themselves on the big screen only want to be famous. Having said that, I must add that the ability to get people to shell out that money, take out that time and travel to come to watch your film in a cinema hall is also commendable.”