With great power comes great responsibility. Actor Sushant Singh, however, has a different take on the oft-repeated quote.
Cinephiles already knew the actor through his work in films such as Satya, Jungle, Josh, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, and the Rakhta Charitra franchise, but it was the popular crime show Savdhaan India made Sushant Singh a household name.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Sushant Singh reflected upon his stint as the host of the show which dramatised real-life crime cases in India while highlighting the victims' struggles for justice and raising awareness.
The actor, whose latest work is the MX Player's series Bindiya Ke Bahubali, said after a point hosting Savdhaan India became "scary".
"I was just anchoring the show and giving you (the audience) a message that how you can be aware and how you can fight back crime. But a lot of people are very innocent. So, they thought that I actually had the power to actually solve their problems or tell the police to take action. They come to you with those expectations and that is scary," Sushant Singh told NDTV.
The actor said people "unknowingly" thrust him with a huge responsibility, believing that he was a panacea to all their problems.
"Dealing with that (expectations) became a big issue. After a point, I tried my best to connect people to NGOs or lawyers. I had to tell them very politely that, 'Aapko galatfehmi hui hai. Main itna bada aadmi nahin hoon ki mere kehne se police action le legi'. So, that was a rather scary part," he added.
Now, coming back to Bindiya Ke Bahubali.
Set in the fictional Bihar town of Bindiya, Bindiya Ke Bahubali revolves around the gangster family of Davans whose members start fighting amongst themseleves for power after the reigning don Badaa Davan, played by Saurabh Shukla, is put behind bars.
In the absurdist dark comedy drama series, Sushant Singh plays a mild-mannered but wily cop Murali Manjhi who knows his ways around the 'system' and manipulates it without ever raising his voice.
As someone who is known for his characteristic booming voice, Sushant Singh said it was a "conscious decision" jointly taken by him and director Raj Amit Kumar that Murali Manjhi will be a seemingly polite character despite him being a cop surrounded by gun-toting gangsters in Bindiya.
"It would have been very obvious to play a tough cop who speaks loudly, threatens people and everyone just gets scared. We wanted to make it interesting. The most fun part of this series is everyone is crazy. All the characters think that they know everything but life has other plans.
"Murali Manjhi has been there in the part of the system and he knows that he has come to a place where he has to clean up and obviously, it's not in a very lawful manner. So, he knows the ways of the world. He understands how the police department works and the society works. We played it in that way that let's make him a very regular guy who knows his power but he doesn't have to show it," he said.
Sushant Singh also said the biggest USP of the show is its cast. Bindiya Ke Bahubali also stars Ranvir Shorey, Sai Tamhankar, Sheeba Chaddha, Seema Biswas, Vineet Kumar, Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya.
"So many good actors in one series, that's a rarity. We are trying to convince our makers to put up a big poster of the show in every city," he added.
Director Raj Amit Kumar, who accompanied actors Sushant Singh and Ranvir Shorey for the interview at NDTV office, has long been a fan of legendary filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino who have mastered the crime genre.
Asked why he wanted to base Bindiya Ke Bahubali in the crime genre, the director said, "This is the genre we love. We have watched and admired it. Crime genres usually tells us about society in large ways.
"Sex and violence shape the world we live in. I've grown up watching the crime genre, many of my favourite filmmakers are from the genre. The decision was very simple to make something in this genre. It also gets made a lot in India, obviously there's a large audience for it."
Raj Amit Kumar said he wanted to strike a chord with the country "we live in" through this genre.
"Having different social institutions coming together in a bahubali format... Every human being deeply thinks that 'I'm a gangster'. That has been the motivating force to bring that out through different characters that what we fight against what we think is wrong. That way it will connect with every human being," he said about the series whose season one is already streaming on OTT.
Bindiya Ke Bahubali marks a departure of sorts for director Raj Amit Kumar, known for independent arthouse titles such as Unfreedom and Brown. The show is set to return for a second season around Diwali.
