The first time Pavail Gulati received a congratulatory text from Anurag Kashyap was when he worked on Yudh (2014). Years later, the filmmaker reconnected with him after watching his performance in Zoya Akhtar’s Made In Heaven (2019). “He texted me, saying, ‘I loved you in the show. You deserve bigger and better.’ He asked me to meet him after 10 days,” recounts Gulati.

At the time, he had little idea that the meeting would set the stage for the upcoming thriller, Dobaaraa. “I followed up 10 days later, and he texted back at 1.30 am, calling me for a meeting at that hour. He was shooting for Sacred Games 2. I assumed he’d give me a part in it, but then, he told me about Dobaaraa. He said I would play a cop in the film. At the end of the meeting, he said, ‘Lead role hai.’”

A highlight of working on the project was reuniting with Taapsee Pannu after Thappad (2020). “She is so mean to me, and gets immense joy from being so. But that’s the bond we have built over the years. She has become a support system for me.”

Making the adaptation of the Spanish movie, Mirage (2018), was thrilling. “We didn’t see the original film until much later. When you work with Anurag, you have to know how to not prepare. One day, I had a long scene and was fully ready with prep. He scrapped the scene completely. He is eccentric and impulsive, but also encouraging. Every time you do a good scene, he is ready with warm hugs,” laughs Gulati.

After the trailer dropped online, netizens had a field day with memes suggesting that the movie shares similarities with Stranger Things. Are the comparisons daunting? “It is just that one shot [of a child cycling down the road]. Our film has nothing to do with the series.”