UP65: Actor Jay Thakkar plays a Banarasi boy in JioCinema’s new dramedy series

Previously seen in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Ram Setu and Ayushmann Khurrana’s Dream Girl, actor Jay Thakkar will slip into the role of a Banarasi boy in JioCinema’s news web series UP65. He will play a pivotal character, named Mohit Kumar, in the Gaganjeet Singh-directed series, inspired by author-columnist Nikhil Sachan’s Hindi novel of the same name.

In the past, Jay has also been part of television shows and web series like Gutur Gu, Laagi Tujhse Lagan, Uttaran, Ek Duje Ke Vaaste 2 and Laakhon Mein Ek. 

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Speaking about his character in UP65, which has started streaming from today, Jay said, “Mohit is a firm believer in living life to the fullest. He laughs at his own jokes and is often found doing hilarious stuff on campus. He is good at planning college events, and is a softy at heart, which is why he also gets hurt easily. He communicates better through his actions than via words. Mohit loves to rag his juniors, but he also gets ragged by his own seniors. His love story is also quite quirky.”

According to the actor, among the biggest challenges he faced while playing a Banarasi character was picking the accent. “That and long shoot schedules at outdoor locations were difficult to pull off. It was also quite tough to accurately portray the character’s emotional chart. However, our director sir was very friendly and he allowed us the creative freedom on the set. He even helped us to improvise and perform better,” Jay added. 

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They shot the web series for about three-four months in Varanasi and Vadodara. “It was a very exciting, challenging and creative experience. I learnt a lot during this process. We were not only shooting this series according to the script, but also improvising the scenes and dialogues in between,” the actor summed up.