Sharib Hashmi aka JK Talpade of The Family Man: I’m sure there is going to be a second season

Sharib Hashmi was a name unheard of up until the recently released show – The Family Man, which has the attention of the entire country. “I swear, I really did not anticipate the kind of reaction we have had so far,” he says.

“I always knew it was going to be special, because we had completely deglamourised the concept of an Indian spy for the audience. He gets scolded by a school principal, and, at the same time, has to be part of a mission where lives are at stake. That kind of balance was never seen before,” he adds.

Read| The Family Man review: Lighthearted but not lightweight; Amazon and Manoj Bajpayee have a winner on their hands

Sharib plays JK Talpade, an analyst in a fictional Indian intelligence agency. The scruffy JK loves his vada pav and doesn’t necessarily have the makings of the best spy around, but is the only man who is trusted by Srikant Tiwari, the protagonist, played by Manoj Bajpayee. “ I actually went audition for the part. The character was supposed to be a Bengali, but I think they liked me after they saw my tape. So they told me that you don’t look like a Ghosh, so you choose which region you want to be from,” he recalls. “I have been a Mumbaikar my entire life, and being a Maharashtrian is sort of natural to me. So, I went ahead with a Marathi character,” says the 40-year-old.

He might have got the audience’s attention initially for the humour his character brings to the show, Sharib feels his character is much more than someone who “just provided” comic relief. “When I met Raj and DK (the creators of the show) after the test, they told me that the character I was playing was going to be an important one . They told me that my part is like comic relief, but its not just that. The humour will be in the script, and won’t be slapstick,” he says.

So one of the first things Sharib made sure was to stay away from slapstick humour, the stereotypical Marathi character that is often parodied on screen. “I tried to stay away from the caricaturish Marathi character. He doesn’t talk like ‘ey kai karto’ or the usual kya karrela and horela kind of thing. I have a lot of Marathi friends who speak very good Hindi, and that’s why I stayed away from it. So in the show, I only speak in Marathi when I am interacting with the locals who can speak in Marathi. Otherwise I talk in normal hindi in the show,” he explains.

Sharib has been in the entertainment industry for almost a decade now and has been part of some popular films including Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Jab Tak Hai Jaan and the National Award winning Filmistaan (both 2012). But it was the first time he worked with Manoj Bajpayee, who Sharib says helped him do JK much better.

“Me and Manoj sir used to improvise a lot. Raj and DK never shouted cut, and let us do our own thing,” he says. ‘”We hit it off from the first day. That scene in the third episode where I am explaining emojis to him was our first scene together. We nailed it in a few takes, and ever since then we sailed through,” he says, amused with the popularity the scene has gained on social media.

“While shooting for that scene, we just went with the flow, but I knew somewhere in my gut, that people are going to lap it all up. But to see this kind of response for that scene is surprising,” he adds.

Read| The Family Man directors say series’ cliffhanger climax was ‘not intended’, confirm season 2

It’s not been even a week since the show released, and people are already talking about the second season. While the creators have confirmed that they have written the second season, there is still no green light by the production studio yet. But Sharib is hopeful. “I think the way it ended, I am sure there is going to be a second season. But you take a look at any of the shows around the world. There is a considerable gap between two seasons. Even Sacred Games took a year to come out with second season. So it will take time, even if it is happening,” he says.

Interact with the author on Twitter/ @sammysamarth

Follow @htshowbiz for more