Meet actor, who went into depression during Covid, playing villain changed his life, is now winning hearts in Stree 2

While doing theatre in Delhi, Abhishek Banerjee made his first on-screen appearance in a small, unnoticeable role in the 2006 film Rang De Basanti, which featured Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, R Madhavan, and Kirron Kher in the leading roles.

Abhishek Banerjee's big break came in 2018 when he played Jana in Stree. But, the actor has now revealed that he went into depression due to the same film. Talking to News18, Abhishek said, "After Jana, I was getting all these goofy characters. Everybody wanted me to wear some rangeela, chamkeela kapda and speak in a certain way. Jana was just a character and while I’m close to it, that’s not who I am in real life. Then I did Dream Girl and Bala and everyone thought I was a comic actor. I was depressed during Covid. I thought, ‘Shit, nobody is going to imagine anything more for me.'"

Abhishek Banerjee's life changed after he played the villainous role of the serial killer Hathoda Tyagi in the Amazon Prime Video series Paatal Lok. The actor added, "Thankfully Sudeep Sharma imagined me as Hathoda Tyagi in Paatal Lok. He imagined that by watching Stree, so full marks to him. After Hathoda Tyagi, I got calls from the industry saying, ‘Oh tu toh actor hai. Tu toh yeh kar sakta hai.'"

In Stree 2, Abhishek Banerjee has reprised his role of Jana, which he also played in Stree and Bhediya and in a cameo appearance in Munjya. All the films are part of the Maddock supernatural universe. Stree 2 has become a blockbuster at the box office as it has crossed Rs 500 crore globally. The Amar Kaushik directorial also features Shraddha Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Aparshakti Khurana, and Pankaj Tripathi in the leading roles.

Stree 2 clashed at the box office with Vedaa, in which Abhishek Banerjee was seen as the main antagonist Jitendra Pratap Singh. Directed by Nikkhil Advni and also featuring John Abraham and Sharvari, Vedaa has been blown away by Stree 2's tsunami at the box office. Reflecting on the same, Abhishek told the same portal, "As an actor, it’s a bittersweet experience. Nikkhil Advani has directed a beautiful film. I saw 60 per cent occupancy for Vedaa in metro cities. I don’t know about the rest. I saw people clapping during the climax. The problem is that Stree is a juggernaut. Since it is also a sequel, the audience is already in sync with the characters. Nobody imagined Stree to be such a big monster. I knew it would be a monster but not that it would become Godzilla."

Abhishek Banerjee will be seen sharing screen with Amitabh Bachchan in one of his upcoming films Section 84. The courtroom drama also features Diana Penty and Nimrat Kaur and has been directed by Ribhu Dasgupta.

After working as casting associate for several years, Abhishek Banerjee and his friend Anmol Ahuja founded their own company Casting Bay in 2017. They have cast actors for several successful movies and shows such as Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Secret Superstar, Raid, Angrezi Medium, Jubilee, Mirzapur, Kalank, Kohhra, Panchayat, and others.