You can't blame the audience for having bracketed him as Mr Goody-Two-Shoes, given his roles in Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017). But Divyenndu threw a curveball with his latest outing, Mirzapur, which sees him as the hot-headed, power-hungry gangster Munna Tripathi. He terms the decision as "a natural progression".

"Mirzapur gave me the chance to be someone else and explore an entirely different character," says Divyenndu, enjoying the appreciation that's coming his way.