There’s a lot an actor has to train in before appearing on the screen. For Karanvir Sharma, besides learning how to write stories and assist directors, the bigger challenge was to overcome his speech impediment. He had a lisp. After working with speech therapists and dialogue coaches, today, he is often told to lend his voice as a voiceover artiste. It was the first thing that hooked us to this conversation with the actor. In a chat with mid-day, Sharma talks about The Trial season two, why adaptations have become an easy fix, and why he feels he is yet to get his due. Excerpts from the interview.

I had seen The Good Wife when it was released earlier. It had been quite a gap. My directors [Umesh Bist and Suparn Varma] specifically told me not to watch it; it was the first brief he gave me. He said he didn’t want me to get limited with what the character was doing there. However, I still caught a few glimpses of it.

Absolutely, because of the memory I had of the character. It is very similar. Whoever has seen The Good Wife will see the exact arc, but it is more consolidated. The international show had about 23 episodes, but in the Indian version, we have only taken the highlights and made six episodes from it.

I may lose out [on fleshing out the] character, but crisp storytelling is the trend. People have started exploring content vertically because maybe the attention span is less these days. I think six episodes of 45 minutes each is good enough to tell a story. However, I also felt some more of my scenes could be added.

It could be both. Some time back, I did a show called 24 — one of the initial shows to be adapted from an international series. I feel nakal ke liye akal lagti hai. Somewhere they hit the right chord for the first season, so the second season of it would be highly anticipated, because when the season two of The Good Wife came out, it was the highlight of the series too. I feel Umesh Bist will fill up the gap. His last series Gyaarah Gyaarah [2024] was a Korean adaptation, and he did a good job with it. The rest is up to the audience.

Adaptations have been going on for ages, it’s just that we are noticing it now because it’s at the forefront. Even Hindi TV shows are adapting from regional shows. I was part of Shaurya Aur Anokhi Ki Kahaani, which was the adaptation of the Bengali show, Mohor. It doesn’t mean every adaptation is going to be successful. I loved Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, but that is also an adaptation of the Korean movie, [A Moment to Remember]. It’s in the hands of the director to make it connect with the Indian audience. It’s not that we are running out of ideas. It’s so difficult for original scripts to get a pass these days. You have to be a salesman more than a creative in this industry now. I wish we had more originals because we have a rich culture. 

I always criticize myself. I feel if you get too comfortable with yourself, it will be your downfall. I feel that sentiment is unanimous among actors. I had done a scene which was mediocre in The Trial. It is a regret. I broke down and cried in front of the director. My mother was hospitalized and my uncle had undergone a surgery. [I had] too many things going on. As an actor you have to keep your personal emotions on the side, but it is not always possible. The next day, it was the climax scene of my character with the whole cast. It had a lot of give and take, and you cannot miss the beat, expressions, and movements. So, I had to switch off, I couldn’t repeat the mistake. I was nervous about it, but it happened, and my director loved it.

Not at all. This was one of the reasons why I picked up The Trial. It was to show people that I can be part of all the mediums and I am a good actor. I will be very disappointed if people don’t appreciate what I have done. This is like a big comeback for me. For so many years, despite getting critical acclaim, I am not able to get out of the struggle. It’s been a decade or so since I have been acting, but I’ve never got a bad review. It has to account for something.

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After some media reports that certain ex-cricketers were planning to sue the makers of Azhar, now news of these actors going underground has surfaced. Actors like Karanvir Sharma and Manjot Singh who are allegedly portraying the role of Azhar's teammates have all gone underground at the cusp of the release. Getting off social media and remaining unavailable in spite of several calls, the actors were to join the team for certain promotional events but are suddenly incommunicado.

“Yes, they were to join us for one of the promotional events but we believe they may have been caught up with something and we can't seem to get through to them. Having said that, they are extremely professional so it's unlike them to not respond unless it's something serious that's keeping them away,“ says director Tony D'Souza. From the in-famous sting operations to the biggest controversy that rocked the cricket world match-fixing, Azhar's tell-all seems to have taken a toll on those who fear that their names may be raked up again, after all these years.

Meanwhile, the makers seem to be in no mood to relent, what with them openly making references to several ex-cricketers who played alongside Azhar at that time. In fact the film's poster too has references to the names of some big cricketers who have reportedly tried to reach out to the makers to find out about their portrayal in the film. But the makers refuse to respond and in fact remain tight-lipped. A source adds, “Making a film on the life and times of one of the most loved and yet most controversial cricket captains means raking up old skeletons of the match fixing scandal that had shocked the nation. But the one thing stands that the film is providing no viewing access to any personalities, big or small. With this film, there seems to be an explosion waiting to happen. Only time will tell who gets caught in the celluloid net and who escapes it."