Born in Delhi, Deepaq Sharma, wanted to be an actor since childhood. His passion for acting led him to theatre and that kick started his acting career. Sharma, who has been part of multiple plays by the renowned Act One theatre group in Delhi, then shifted to Mumbai to try his luck in the film industry. After appearing in commercials for popular brands like Nestle Munch, Maggi Noodles, Britannia, etc., Sharma acted in films like Mudda, Tevar and Dilliwali Zalim Girlfriend. His latest release is the horror comedy movie Nanu Ki Jaanu wherein he plays the character of Abhay Deols friend Nabbe. In a chat with Nation Next, Deepaq Sharma speaks about the film Nanu Ki Jaanu, his friend and writer of the movie Manu Rishi Chadda and tells us how most of the theatre actors from Delhi are a family in Mumbai! Excerpts:

Tell us about your character in the film Nanu Ki Jaanu.

I play the role of one of Abhay Deols friend Nabbe? in the movie. We are a gang of four friends in the movie. Abhay, who plays the titular role of Nanu, encounters and gets influenced by a ghost. Our friend Manu Rishi Chadda, who plays the character of Dabbu, also gets under the influence of the ghost.  It is then when I step in and tell my friends that I can help them get rid of the ghost. Nanu, influenced by the ghost, does all things in the movie, which is in contrast with his character. We try to bring him back on the track again and again. We even take him to drink thinking that it will make him normal!

Your real life friend Manu Rishi Chadda and Abhay have worked together in the film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! before. How was your first experience working with Abhay?

It was really great working with him. Abhay is a fantastic actor. He always helps his co-actors on the sets and is really sorted out as a person and an actor. Abhay gets into the skin of his character 10-15 minutes before the actual shoot. He talks less and is into himself most of the times. But it really didn’t feel like I was working with him for the first time. And the fact that Manu and Faraz Haider (director of the movie) had worked with him earlier as well, helped me to get comfortable on the sets with Abhay.

Horror comedy is a rare genre in Bollywood as of now. How challenging was to portray the role of Nabbe? in the film?

Frankly, it wasn’t difficult. As the film is based in Delhi, where I hail from, I didn’t have any problem depicting the body language and dialect of North India. I thoroughly loved working in the film. I have been getting calls from friends and relatives from North India saying that they loved my work and the film.

When Manu shifted to Mumbai from Delhi, he started his career as an actor but later shifted to writing. He won the Filmfare Best Dialogue Award for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! in 2008. Have you ever thought of writing as well?

Manu and I are friends since our theatre days. If he writes a script, he always tries to write a character for me. All of us theatre actors who have come from Delhi have experienced a lot of different and interesting things in life. So, we have a lot of content. I think of writing some times. I’m writing something, but it’s not very concrete at the moment.

A lot of Delhi theatre actors are like a family in Mumbai?

We spend a lot of time with each other. Manu, I, Deepak Dobriyal, and others, we all come from the same theatre circle in Delhi. So, we are like a family in Mumbai and have a great deal of emotional attachment with each other. When we shifted to Mumbai many years back, we rented houses close to each other’s houses. We cook together just the way we would do in Delhi. So, we have our own mini-Delhi here in Mumbai!