Angad on how he suffered a broken jaw while filming MumBhai's action sequence
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 8, 2020)

Angad Bedi has been shooting for the final leg of Ekta Kapoor's MUMBhai, a crime thriller revolving around the unlikely friendship between a cop and a gangster, over the past month. Unfortunately, the shoot hit a roadblock last week when the actor suffered a serious injury while filming an action sequence with co-star Sikander Kher in south Mumbai. Though the duo had rehearsed extensively for the scene, Bedi says an ill-timed elbow blow left him with a broken jaw and a bruised lip.

"In the show, Sikander's character is like an elder brother to my character; he plays a vital role in making me a cop. We were shooting at an akhada that day. Sikander and I are shown to be training in the scene," recounts Bedi, adding that they kept at least a foot's distance while rehearsing the stunts. "But when filming the take, we changed a particular move. What was earlier a punch, became an elbow blow. By mistake, I moved in the wrong direction and his elbow hit my face directly."

He says that the shoot of the ALT Balaji show was immediately called off as he needed urgent medical attention. "I had to keep icing it through the rest of the night. It will get better, but my upper lip is still swollen."

Shreya Mukherjee (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 9, 2020)

These unprecedented times are all the more difficult for those staying away from home, says actor Angad Bedi, who recently flew down to Delhi to spend time with his parents. “I usually come for a couple of days every month, but this time, I hadn’t seen them for over three months. Number of (Coronavirus) cases in Delhi shooting the roof got me all the more worried,” he says.

However, upon returning to Mumbai, Bedi says he might quarantine away from home while shooting for his web series, MUMbhai, for the sake of his daughter, Mehr. “I had started shooting for MumBhai when the lockdown happened. This gap actually didn’t benefit me. For an artiste, athlete or performer, this period was like rusting, not resting,” he opines.

Bedi’s next big screen outing Gunjan Saxena starring actor Janhvi Kapoor is now set for a direct-to-OTT release. Is he happy about this? “Everybody is watching everything on the web these days,” he continues, “Be it The Verdict: State v/s Nanavati or Inside Edge (his previous web projects), I know the kind of reach web has. Also, theatres are yet to open and even if they do, I’m not sure how many will take the risk of going out.”

“Amitabh Bachchan-Ayushmann Khurrana’s film Gulabo Sitabo and even films of Alia Bhatt, Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar are releasing online. It’s the same for us all. We want maximum people to watch our work,” says the actor, 37, adding that one needs to keep avenues open during such a crisis.

With cricket show Inside Edge 2 behind him, actor trains focus on rifle shooting for cop act in series, MumBhai
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; January 16, 2020)

Set to play an encounter specialist in Ekta Kapoor’s upcoming web show, MumBhai, Angad Bedi has been clocking in the hours learning the ropes of rifle and pistol shooting.

Bedi has been putting in two hours a day since the past month, training with seasoned shooters to ace his act as cop Bhaskar Shetty. The actor tells mid-day, “I had undergone some training in rifle shooting when I filmed Tiger Zinda Hai. But, this show is set in the ’90s, and hence, the kind of guns we’ve used belong to that era. The pistols are different from those that are currently used. A lot of Bhaskar’s personality is reflected in the action sequences, which is why the use of the gun had to look flawless. I have learnt how to hold and operate it. The action directors have been taking me through each sequence, showing me precisely how to approach the target, and maintain the right posture to shoot.”

Bedi’s Bhaskar is seen as a boy belonging to humble beginnings, who then rises to power. “He starts off as a worker at an Udupi restaurant, and goes on to become a powerful force, and an encounter specialist. Interestingly, the story shows the rise and fall of the character when he is consumed by power. It’s a dynamic character; he depicts how power [can] make one greedy for more power, and money.”

Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; November 8, 2019)

Ekta Kapoor is supervising the final draft of MUMBhai, a web series featuring Angad Bedi and Sikandar Kher that traces the unlikely friendship between a cop and a gangster. The show apparently takes inspiration from real-life cops and gangsters, with Bedi's character modelled on encounter specialist Daya Nayak.

"I have played an Army [officer] in Tiger Zinda Hai [2017] and the upcoming Kargil Girl. But playing a cop is new to me," says the actor. Turns out, Kapoor was so impressed with Bedi's performance in The Verdict: State v/s Nanavati, that she offered him the crime drama. "I will have to undergo physical preparation and technical training to understand the milieu," discusses Bedi of the show that spans a decade from the early '90s. Prod him on playing Nayak, and all he is willing to divulge is, "It's based on some valiant cops of the city, but we aren't making a biography. So, the research has to be thorough and vast because the stories have been adequately fictionalised."

Apoorva Lakhia continues his affair with guns and gangsters with a web series for Ekta Kapoor's platform
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; September 18, 2019)

Ever so ready to explore stories of the underworld, Shootout At Lokhandwala (2007) and Haseena Parkar (2017) director Apoorva Lakhia is set to work on another offering, MUMbhai, which revolves around gangsters and cops.

Rubbishing reports of the show being inspired from encounter-specialist Daya Nayak's life, Lakhia says, "Real-life characters, especially those of gangsters and cops, have been such exploited on screen that they're now boring. We have researched on various people and written a fictional piece set against the backdrop of the '90s and 2000s. Our show is based on the friendship between a cop and a gangster. With the reality of a decade — one when encounter cops came into existence and gangsters became superstars — being dramatic, the script is evidently interesting."

Angad Bedi and Sikander Kher slip into the role of a cop and gangster respectively. The Alt Balaji offering, which will be helmed by Akshay Chaubey, kicks off next month in Mumbai.