‘Mirzapur’ and ‘Jamtara’ Actor Amit Sial on Wanting to Try Romance and Comedy: ‘People Think I’m a Very Intense Guy, But I’m Not’

When it comes to finding allure in a project, actor Amit Sial says it’s not so much about having a wishlist of whom he’d like to work with in the Indian film industry, but more about good scripts. He adds, “I want to explore more genres. People are not aware of the number of facets of my acting ability. I want to play a romantic… I’m very romantic in real life and I would like to extend that to the screen as well.”

Sial, who has been known for roles in shows such as Mirzapur (as Ram Sharan Maurya, an Indian Police Service officer) and Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega (as Brajesh Bhan, a scheming legislator), recently had season two of thriller series Kathmandu Connection come out. In it, he plays a cop yet again, but Sial says that in reality, he’s not that intense a guy. “It’s a part of me, but it’s not the whole thing. I want to do comedy and explore all kinds genres of comedy – situation comedy and slapstick,” he adds.

The Kanpur-born, Mumbai-based actor began getting into theater productions across India early on, but also went on to study business, began running an eatery and got into films and shows by the mid-2000s. a play director as well as the occasional music composer and singer, Sial talks about how life experiences have fed into his skill as an actor. “I think it goes without saying. I got quite late into professional acting, I moved to Mumbai and I was 29 or 30 years old. And I was an outsider. We have to go through that grind but what I realized is that – like any job – if you’re at it for at least a decade with all your heart, dedication and time, you’re bound to get good at it,” he says. Sial mentions here that if one still isn’t good at it, then there are “some serious troubles in your choices.”

The musician in him is attached to Sial’s inclination to write poetry and he says a tune came into his mind. “I composed it for my girlfriend, she’s now my wife,” he adds. At a Diwali party hosted by actor Tigmanshu Dhulia, his friend and fellow actor Randeep Hooda asked Sial to sing it for him. That song, “Main Ek Bhanwara,” became part of the soundtrack to thriller movie Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster in 2011. Sial maintains it all happened by chance, which he says is like everything that’s happened in the rest of his life. “It’s all been very organic, very magical. I’ve just tried and been completely dedicated to what I want to do with art and craft. I’ve not been running after things and I’ve been fortunately patient enough for them to come to me,” Sial adds.

While he’s still writing poetry (mostly for himself, remaining unsure about if and when he might put his poems out there), Sial is fully immersed in the world of OTT shows at the moment. The evolution of Indian T.V. from soap operas and dramas to more gritty, intense series on platforms like Sony LIV, Netflix, Prime Video and others is rooted in the hiring of actors like Sial, who take on characters who are grey and almost unpredictable in their actions. It keeps audiences thinking and pushes shows into a new category, one that has taken over pop culture compared to serialized dramas. Sial compares it to what happened in the U.S. as well when digital platforms overtook satellite T.V. channels across genres in entertainment.

With the gates fully open now for the actor, Sial is beginning to get to expand his range with forthcoming projects. He’s worked in an upcoming dramedy called Tikdam, directed by Vivek Anchalia and described as a family-oriented story of migration set in a small hill town. “It’s beautifully written and beautifully shot,” Sial says. Then, there’s a comedy film directed by Raj Trivedi, written by Aditya Rawal (recently seen in the film Faraaz) and starring Paresh Rawal that might be coming out this year. There are a couple of more web series and more.