In a career spanning three decades, Manish Chaudhari built a niche for himself as a dependable performer who is also a familiar face, courtesy his back-to-back OTT projects. The actor, who started his journey on television in mid-90s, has also worked in the Telugu film Kingdom (2025), starring Vijay Deverakonda in the lead. In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, Manish Chaudhari speaks about how his role in Sushmita Sen's Aarya paved the way to Kingdom and how he perceives "grey" characters.
After Watching Aarya, The Makers Offered Kingdom
Manish Chaudhari has also expanded his field of work by stepping into the Telugu industry with a Vijay Deverakonda film. Talking about the challenges he faced, he says, "Learning the lines in a different language is an extremely difficult thing to do. That's the biggest challenge. I feel I haven't done it badly."
Talking about how he landed up with the role, Manish says, "Aarya was dubbed in Telugu and it became a big hit in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana which are Telugu-speaking states. After watching the show, the Kingdom makers approached me for the film. But my mainstay was with the Hindi film industry. As an extension, I can say it's the Indian film industry where Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and several language films are being made."
Touching upon the North versus the South debate, Manish Chaudhari says, "Some films may not work in some parts at a given point of time. But that's a rotating cycle, I strongly feel about. In my experience, both Hindi and Telugu industries are extremely professional."
Aarya, Aap Jaisa Koi And The Silsila Of Grey Characters
When we ask Manish Chaudhari if he feels he is being typecast on OTT in grey characters, the seasoned actor dodges the question. "I play the part I get to play. I don't understand the term typecast very much. Would you say this about an actor who plays the hero in every film?"
Then, he explains the process of casting and how he fits into the character the director or producer assigns to him. "I am a working actor. As an actor, I do have a choice. But that's limited. You have to look at the larger picture that what content is being made. After looking at the body of the work, the directors or producers offer me a part that I play. It's a give and take sort of relationship with the work," Manish Chaudhari tells us.
"If you look at Aarya, Shekhawat is definitely a villain in the show. But the protagonist Aarya is also quite villainous. I think, it becomes simplistic if you divide the stories into a good guy or bad guy. Stories which are being told now, are more evolved than that.
"The bad guy has become more grey. The hero has become more grey. In the Netflix film Aap Jaisa Koi, director Vivek Soni shows a sense of patriarchy that a lot of men feel in our country. It's an important part that calls out that patriarchy. So, when I got an opportunity to call out toxic patriarchy, I loved to play that part. Whether you call it heroic, villainous or grey... But the fact is that the story is being told for a reason. It's not only told for mere entertainment. It wants to show the society a mirror. If I can be a part of that mirror, I am extremely happy," Manish Chaudhari sums up.
For the unversed, Manish Chaudhari plays the role of Bhanu Tripathi in R Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh's Aap Jaisa Koi, who believes in gender-stereotyped roles for women, often belittling their achievements and wishes.
Manish Chaudhari will next be seen in Aryan Khan's directorial debut The Ba***ds Of Bollywood. The Netflix series will stream from September 18.
