Vikrant on Criminal Justice: Had to put my hand into commode for scene

Vikrant Massey in a still from the show

We start our chat with Vikrant Massey by mentioning that the jury of the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist Web Awards was divided on whether he should be nominated for his act in Criminal Justice, or Broken But Beautiful 2. "This is so heart-warming. We actors are so unaware of what works for people. When I was watching the cricket World Cup in England last year, many belonging to the NRI diaspora came up to me and spoke about this show," says Massey, who is in the running for the Best Actor nod for his heart-wrenching performance in Criminal Justice.

The show is an adaptation of the 2008 British series by the same name, which was also reimagined as The Night Of in the US. The gripping plot lends itself beautifully to adaptations, reasons the actor. "I remember watching both the original series. My friends and I would often talk about how the show should be made here. I wanted people in UP and Bihar to know this story; they wouldn't have watched The Night Of. I grabbed the opportunity when it came my way. Sameer Nair [producer] has been guiding me since 2007 when I was working in TV, so I had faith in his instinct. Since it was an official adaptation, I knew the show will be of high quality."

Essaying the role of a cab driver who is accused of murdering his passenger, the actor acknowledges that several scenes drained him emotionally. "The toughest sequence was where my character wakes up to find out [that the woman has been murdered] and convinces himself that he has lost his memory. In another scene, I had to put my hand into the commode to pull out the smuggled drugs. These sequences took me out of my comfort zone." Massey adds that director Tigmanshu Dhulia maintained the fine balance between extracting subtle performances from his cast without losing out on the whodunit flavour of the story.

More about Criminal Justice

• Criminal Justice marks the web debut of Jackie Shroff, who played a prison inmate on the show.
• Vikrant Massey bowed out of the second season of the thriller as his date diary was filled with film commitments.

Cast your vote for the Hitlist Web Awards

Vikrant Massey has been nominated in the Best Actor (Male) category for Hotstar's Criminal Justice. The other nominees are:

• Manoj Bajpayee (The Family Man; Amazon Prime)
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Sacred Games S02; Netflix)
• Dhruv Sehgal (Little Things S03; Netflix)
• Mohit Raina (Kaafir; Zee5)
• Arjun Mathur (Made In Heaven; Amazon Prime)

There are 14 categories that the public can vote in. Log on to www.hitlistwebawards.com to cast your vote.

You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST <space> category name <space> your choice (a/b/c/d as on the website) to 57575.Voting lines close on March 8.

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