Want to play Karan Mehra as truthfully as many times as I’ll be allowed: Arjun Mathur on 'Made in Heaven'

Mumbai: "Made in Heaven" breakout star Arjun Mathur says he was initially worried about being typecast in gay roles, but the show made him realise that a well-written character is worth repeating.

Having previously played the role of a homosexual in filmmaker Onir’s 2010 anthology “I Am” and a short movie “Migration”, the actor recalls how he was hesitant to play Karan Mehra in "Made in Heaven".

"Two-three days after ‘Made in Heaven’ was released, I got offered a gay character in a very mainstream film that I refused. After ‘Made in Heaven’ particularly, I think before I agreed to do this, I was off the block that I have done this twice before and now I should not do it again.

"The experience of ‘Made in Heaven’ taught me that it should be always about the script. If a great script comes to me, I’ll do it (play a gay role) ten times over. I love Karan too much and I want to do this as truthfully as many times as I’ll be allowed,” Mathur told PTI in an interview.

The actor recalled his meeting with Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar, the series creators, the first time. He had not read the script and had given two rounds of auditions. It was later revealed to him that his character is a gay.

"I remember telling them (Reema and Zoya) that, ‘I don’t want to do this again’ because I had done it twice before, you know how we tend to typecast, I wanted to avoid it. All they said is, ‘read it (script)’.

"I took it home and read those nine episodes in one night, I was blown away by the fact that this had come to me, there was no way I was letting anyone else do this,” Mathur said.

The actor scored a nomination in the 'Best Performance by an Actor' category at the International Emmy Awards 2020, for his nuanced portrayal of a closeted homosexual.

Mathur said despite all the fame coming his way post the success of the first season, his professional life didn’t alter “overnight”.

“I wouldn’t say there was an overnight life change like something, also the nomination (Emmy) came unfortunately in the year of COVID-19, when things came to standstill. I tried a few shoots from home.

"As soon as things ended, we got back into ‘Made in Heaven’. So, I feel like I've been shooting ‘Made in Heaven’. Surprisingly, not that much (change) maybe and Emmy means nothing over here, who knows?”, Mathur, who has worked in films like "Luck by Chance", "My Name is Khan", and "Ankur Arora Murder Case", said.

The actor has reprised his role for the second season, which is streaming on Prime Video and early reviews have once again praised his performance. The second season is directed by Kagti, Alankrita Shrivastava, Nitya Mehra and Neeraj Ghaywan.

In addition to Mathur, actors Sobhita Dhulipala, Jim Sarbh, Kalki Koechlin, Shashank Arora, Vijay Raaz and Shivani Raghuvanshi, also reprise their roles from season one.

Actors Mona Singh, Ishwak Singh and Trinetra Haldar are the new additions to the cast, alongside the special appearances by Radhika Apte, Mrunal Thakur, Dia Mirza, Pulkit Samrat, Sanjay Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, and fashion designer Sabyasachi among others.