From the looks of it, The Night Manager comes with high stakes for Aditya Roy Kapur. It not only marks his web series debut, but is also the adaptation of the Emmy Award-winning international show of the same name. Club that with the responsibility of stepping into Tom Hiddleston’s shoes, and the bar is set high. Does he feel the pressure?

“As actors, we have enough pressure. Going in front of 250 people and baring your soul is quite [tough]. So, it is better to keep things as light as you can,” begins Kapur.

The actor remembers how the offer of the Disney+ Hotstar series sparked polarising responses from those around him. Many dissuaded him from foraying into digital entertainment, citing that it would reduce the charm of meeting the audience for two hours in a movie hall.

“Some people said, ‘Don’t do it yaar. How can you get into all this?’ Others stated that this is the future. But I de-cluttered my mind. I didn’t feel strongly about the first opinion. I don’t think the jury is out on whether [OTT] will be a bad thing for actors. Also, a lot of people are doing it. I wanted to be part of this story. Plus, I always wondered what it would be like to explore long-format storytelling. So, I told myself not to overthink the move.”

In creator Sandeep Modi’s adaptation, Kapur offers a taut performance as Shaan Sengupta, a hotel night manager and former Navy officer, who infiltrates the inner circle of Anil Kapoor’s Shelly Rungta, an arms dealer. After he was offered the adaptation, Kapur watched the Hiddleston-led series, purely as a viewer, and not with the idea of drawing inspiration.

“I loved the performances in the original. But you have to find your own way, and draw from what is in front of you on the paper because the language, characterizations and certain situations change [when adapting]. So, you draw from that change. When I read the episodes, it became clear that Sandeep had rooted the story in the Indian sub-continent. While you can look at a great performance, you can never [replicate] what someone else has done because the essence is different [in a remake].”