If Kay Kay Menon features in a project, it features in our watch-list. And if it blends his acting prowess with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s much-loved work, Sherlock Holmes, it’s a no-brainer. That explains why we’re looking forward to Shekhar Home. The JioCinema series reimagines the iconic detective in the setting of 1990s India. Playing the famed detective can be a big draw for any actor, but Menon says it was the story’s adaptation that attracted him deeply. “I normally don’t go with inhibitions at all. I go with an open mind [when approaching] any script. This story is set in a sleepy town called Lonepur in the 1990s, without telecommunication, mobile phones, or Zoom meetings. It felt so good while reading it that I was transported to that era,” says the actor.

Helmed by Srijit Mukherji and Rohan Sippy, the mystery series also stars Ranvir Shorey, Rasika Dugal and Kirti Kulhari. Over the years, there have been many adaptations of Doyle’s detective series, including the hugely popular Sherlock, fronted by Benedict Cumberbatch, and Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes (2009). Didn’t the fear of comparisons cross his mind? Menon says he embraced the challenge without falling into the trap of comparison. “That is a trap. If I think like that, then I would never be able to perform. Benedict Cumberbatch is not playing Shekhar, right? Nor is Robert [Downey Jr]. I am playing Shekhar. I don’t look at it from the prism of something that has already been done. Otherwise, every love story would seem like Romeo-Juliet and Heer-Ranjha. I go with the principle that this is a unique script and given to me only, and I need to do justice to it.”