When Aparshakti Khurana had auditioned for Vikramaditya Motwane’s Jubilee (2022), little did he know that it had earned him another project in Berlin. After all, Atul Sabharwal, who has directed ZEE5’s upcoming bureaucratic thriller, also served as the writer of Jubilee and was privy to the actor’s audition. “Atul sir had seen my Jubilee audition. So, the first time we met for Jubilee readings, we began talks for Berlin,” recalls Khurana. 

For the actor, Berlin—also starring Rahul Bose, Ishwak Singh and Anupriya Goenka—was an easy yes as the thriller’s style and world building was novel. “The moment Atul sir narrated Berlin, I asked him for the script and finished reading it the same day. It was a world I had not heard of or seen before.”