Returning to India after a shoot, Sikandar Kher intended to skim through the script of Monica O My Darling during the flight. But a few pages in, he was sucked deep into the quirky world of Vasan Bala’s neo-noir comedy.

“When I was in Indonesia shooting for a movie, Monica O My Darling’s casting team said Vasan wanted to talk to me. So, we had a Zoom call, he sent me the script, and I requested him to give me 10 days [to respond]. When I was flying back, I opened the script on my phone just to see what [it entailed]. In under an hour, I had finished reading the script on my phone,” laughs Kher, who plays Nishikant Adhikari in the Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte-starrer.

On the surface, his character is an entitled, cold-hearted man, but the actor lent wit and irreverence to make him almost likeable. Kher, who has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor: Film category for the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards, says Bala gave him the freedom to shape his character the way he wanted.

“Vasan ropes in actors who can bring something to the character. He likes to be surprised by his actors. I figured that Nishikant is from a broken family, and is bitter that he has not gotten his due in the company. So, I [lent him an air of] disdain.”

Kher is glad that with projects like Aarya and the Netflix film, he has been able to prove his mettle as an artiste. “I’ve been acting for 16 years. I was hoping that this day would come at some point. [Monica] had a wide reach, and people enjoyed the film.”

Sikander Kher has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor (Male): Film category for Monica O My Darling.

The other nominees are:

- Amit Sial (Qala)

- Anil Kapoor (Thar)

- Gajraj Rao (Maja Ma)

- Naseeruddin Shah (Gehraiyaan)

- Roshan Mathew (Darlings)

There are 16 categories that the public can vote in. Log on to www.radiocity.in/hitlistott to cast your vote.

Voting lines close on February 22.