New Delhi: Actor Avinash Tiwari, who is enjoying a positive response to his streaming show ‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’, has shared how he got into character. To keep things real, he learned to chew khaini (tobacco) and ate food at local dhabas on the Jharkhand-Bihar border.
Avinash plays an anti-hero gangster – Chandan Mahto in the series, which is set in early 2000s Bihar and portrays a classic cop vs gangster feud.
Sharing how Avinash introduced his character, Avinash said, “This is a guy who lives in the interiors of Bihar. He doesn’t have access to a gym. He’s like the classic beefed-up anti-hero. Couldn’t see who we are.” Used to watch I kept it real. There was no exercise. I was eating like the truck drivers of the area because Chandan is a guy who is always on the go. He is clumsy. I was living a life like him. I ate at dhabas along the Jharkhand-Bihar border for about 10 days.”
Even his look in the series is devoid of any sparkle befitting the part. She continued, “I didn’t want to gloss over her natural look. So my makeup artist and I decided to show off the tanned skin, which we accentuated with makeup. We didn’t try to hide the stretch marks either.” We were shooting in hot sun in Jharkhand, so tanning was evident.
“I was doing some shooting just before this so I had to lose the look for that and look like this. The haircut was done locally to make sure it looked regular.”
“From learning to eat ‘khaini’ to living like the local people of these villages was important to make the character more holistic and show that he is more authentically immersed in the universe. Shedding the fuss and feathers of being a Bollywood hero went.” An actor for this show. And with all the love coming my way, it feels very exciting”, he concluded.
‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’ is streaming on Netflix.