Reward after the hard work

Jameel Khan

So endearing is Gullak that as soon as a season ends, fans get impatient for the next. They aren't the only ones. Jameel Khan, who plays the mild-mannered patriarch of the middle-class Mishra family, admits he calls the show's creators often, requesting them to work faster on the next edition. "If six months have passed since the shoot, I call up TVF [The Viral Fever] and ask, ‘How much have you written? Please finish it fast,'" he laughs.

In the fourth season, Khan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Vaibhav Raj Gupta and Harsh Mayar have reprised their roles to tell the story of the Mishra family's adventures and heartbreaks, unexpected joys and little sorrows. Like his character, Khan has a nurturing approach towards his younger co-actors. "When I was inexperienced, I used to look up to my seniors. If I found something wrong in their conduct, I'd feel bad about how they were treating others. I learnt from them that this is something I'd never do. We should not set wrong examples for the next generation. As a senior actor, I must make my juniors comfortable and not make them feel inexperienced."

It has been a long journey up to Gullak for Khan, as he built his 25-year career with supporting roles in films and television shows. Leading the SonyLIV series feels like a reward for the decades of hard work he put in. "Headlining a project changes the perception that the industry and audience have of you. Playing the protagonist is the reward for the journey you've had, for the amount of work you have put in since your theatre days to now."