When Saurabh Sachdeva first heard director Shazia Iqbal narrate Dhadak 2, he had tears in his eyes. That reaction was enough to convince her he was invested — and ready to play Shankar — the quietly menacing casteist killer in the Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri-starrer.

Produced by Dharma Productions, Zee Studios, and Cloud 9 Pictures, the film is an official adaptation of Mari Selvaraj’s 2018 anti-caste Tamil drama, Periyerum Perumal. While Sachdeva had the source material to draw inspiration, he brought his interpretation as well. “I would discuss [the character’s] lifestyle and [equation] with his wife and daughter with the team. While his actions are violent and brutal, I thought I didn’t need to make the character aggressive. He should be more timid and busy with life otherwise. He won’t be in-your-face with his violence, like threatening or scaring someone. Shazia and I were aligned on the fact that he would be passive, until he acts. Then, he would be very aggressive,” he says.

Saurabh Sachdeva in ‘Dhadak 2’. Pics/AFP, Instagram