Amol Parashar finds himself at an interesting juncture in his career, balancing a range of distinctive projects, including his latest, The Bureaucrat and Gram Chikitsalay Season 2. While Gram Chikitsalay, a comedy-drama, sees him step into the role of a doctor who chooses village life over comfort, The Bureaucrat has him playing a character caught between personal ideals and a flawed system.
For the actor, both choices were instinctive, despite the difference between the characters. “I loved the idea of an idealistic young doctor in Gram Chikitsalay who wants to serve in a village,” he says. What drew him in was not just the character, but what the story represents. “Somewhere along the way, we’ve stopped celebrating honesty and integrity. Stories earlier used to inspire—there was always some sense of morality. I think that still matters,” he reflects.
In contrast, The Bureaucrat allowed him to explore a far more layered space following the character over a decade and tracing his evolution through disillusionment, compromise, and eventual self-realisation. “It’s a much more complex narrative. You’re watching the system through his eyes, and he goes through so many transformations that it almost feels like playing multiple characters in one,” he explains, “He’s not a bad person, but he’s flawed. He believes it’s okay to bend the rules, especially if the outcome feels justified.”
Although his plate is full with a variety of projects, Amol often finds himself drawn back to the stage, where his journey began over 15 years ago. That’s one of the reasons behind the development of Besharam Aadmi, a humorous one-man play exploring gender dynamics, which was staged in London recently. At its core is a seemingly trivial but thought-provoking subject—a man feeling awkward holding his wife’s bra in front of his parents. “It sounds simple and weird, but it opens up universal questions about conditioning, equality, and the contradictions we live with,” remarks Amol.
Amol, known for his performances in projects like TVF Tripling, Sardar Udham, and Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, did not really think he would be an actor one day. “I was scared of the stage,” he says, “If you had told 15-year-old me that I would become an actor, I would have thought you’d lost it.”
Even during his time at IIT Delhi, where he first began engaging with the arts, acting was far from a career plan. “Everyone participates in extra-curriculars on campus, but after graduation, they go on to pursue engineering. Acting as a ‘real’ profession wasn’t even a thought,” he recalls. Debut with Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year changed everything. It was the excitement that comes with acting that pushed him into the industry. “I like challenges, and I am glad I take that everyday now,” he says.