SUNIL GROVER 2.0

Known for making people laugh their hearts out with his comedy, mimicry, and sometimes just his presence, Sunil Grover is now breaking free from his funny image to play one of those love-to-hate reel personalities, and winning hearts all over again

- Jigar Shah

When one starts out in showbiz, one works hard to build an image, and as years pass by, one builds on that image. Only a handful dare to break away from that image, and succeed in doing something totally diverse. Sunil Grover, known for his comedic characters, Gutthi and Dr Mashoor Gulati, recently portrayed an intense character in Amazon Prime Video’s Tandav. His character, Gurpal, was cold, sinister, and very effective. The actor is currently revelling in a sea of compliments. Some of those compliments say, Pehle hassa rahe the. Ab darra rahe ho. (You made us laugh before, but you are scaring us, now).

When director-producer Ali Abbas Zafar approached Grover for Gurpal's role, Grover was not entirely sure of saying yes. I was scared, and that is not because I won't be able to portray the role, but given my comedic image, I didn't want people to laugh during an intense scene. Security guards at the airport have often told me, Sir, aapko dekh kar hassi aa hi jaati hai. You have the kind of face that makes us laugh,” he says, asserting, I had never thought of a character like Gurpal. One fine day, Ali Sir called me to his office, and I thought we would chit-chat to catch up, but he offered me Tandav. I immensely enjoyed portraying Gurpal's character because it was so powerful. I could feel that power while performing. It was Ali Sir's faith in me that made this character work. Gurpal does all sorts of immoral things, thinking he's just doing his job.”

Every father likes to be his child's hero. Grover often shares articles raving about his performances to impress his son, Mohan. Did Mohan and his friends see