It’s not easy to shed the image you’ve built over years, but Riteish Deshmukh is steadily doing it. The actor, who shines in comedies, has chosen a hard-hitting thriller, Pill, for his web series debut. Did his desire to steer away from comedies draw him to the Jio Cinema offering? Not at all. What appealed to him was how director Raj Kumar Gupta trained his lens on the healthcare industry.

“People in India see medicine and mandir ka prasad in the same light. We’ve all read about [unethical practices in the pharmaceutical industry], and most companies will pay people to keep it hidden. I’m glad that Raj and Ronnie Screwvala [producer] thought it is important to reflect on this issue,” he says.

Be it No one Killed Jessica (2011) or Raid (2018), Gupta often marries real-life events and fiction. The actor says that here too, the director has blended elements of a thriller and courtroom drama to weave a fictional tale of a deputy medicine controller, who raises his voice against a pharma giant and his seniors for rolling out a drug with grave side-effects.

“Raj [doesn’t just] give you a thriller; he also shows you the process. In Raid, he depicted the entire process of how a raid is conducted. Similarly, here, he shows the way in which my character and his team [expose the nexus]. We are used to exaggerated drama, but we’ve kept it as real as possible.” 

Working with the director took him back to his school days, he jokes. “The climax was a 10- to 12-page scene. [Prepping for it] reminded me of school days when I’d stay up nights [to study]. In the morning, I gave the shot in one take,” he smiles.

With a 21-year career behind him, Deshmukh is more assured of what he wants as an artiste today. While he ventured into direction with Ved (2022), he maintains that acting is his top priority. He finds joy in exploring different genres and refining his craft.

“I want a bit of thehrav in whatever I do. Comedy needs timing, but I want to explore different facets. Earlier, I would rush into comedy, but I don’t do that now. After my directorial venture, I have only worked on two projects.”

The incidents that happen around us every day are the ones that interest Raj Kumar Gupta most. From No One Killed Jessica (2011) to Raid (2018), the director has brought to the screen hard-hitting stories that had their roots in real life. Now, for his maiden web series Pill, he has trained his lens on the pharmaceutical industry.

“While I had many offers to direct web series earlier, the stories didn’t appeal to me as this concept did. We all are consuming pills every day, and we live in an environment where we are impacted by what we see and read. While these form the bases of Pill, it’s a fictional take on the medical world,” says the creator-co-director.

The Jio Cinema offering sees Riteish Deshmukh as a deputy medicine controller, who raises his voice against a pharmaceutical company that rolls out a drug, with grave side-effects, in the market. With the show, Gupta wants the audience to be aware of the malpractices of the healthcare industry.

“How many times does an average Indian pop pills in a year? It’s important to know what goes into the pill, how it is made, and whether taking drugs is safe or not. We’ve read about fake or substandard drugs. Those are the questions we’ve raised with Pill. It’s a blend of thriller, drama, and investigative journalism,” he says of the show that was shot in Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai.

In Deshmukh, Gupta found a perfect collaborator whose acting and directing experience enabled him to judge the material better.

“Riteish is a director’s actor. Being a director himself, he knows filmmaking. So, when he comes on set as an actor, he has his own suggestions and queries. It’s always welcome if an actor comes on my set with his intellect.”