Internet's favourite guy-next-door, Ayush Mehra gets into a candid chat with us as he shares his experience playing a medical student in Dice Media’s Operation MBBS.
One platform that is gaining a lot of exposure and love is the OTT. While we all admire the movies, we can't get enough of the shows too. Besides giving us great content, OTT platforms have also managed to give us some of our new favourite actors and crushes in the last few years. One such actor who has become a household name and has left many ladies crushing over him is Ayush Mehra. Ayush has featured in a number of videos and has won hearts with his boyish charm. In fact, some might even call him one of the Internet’s favourite boyfriends.
From appearing in commercials to playing the lead role in Dice Media's new web-series Operation MBBS, Ayush Mehra has come a long way. In one of our candid chats with him, he shared his experience of playing an MBBS student in the show. Keep reading to find out what he had to share...
Here’s what Ayush Mehra had to tell us about his new web-series Operation MBBS:
Is there anything new that you learned while shooting for the show?
"Of course there were a lot of new things I learned while I was doing the show. Most of it was as a performer because as a performer you always stick to your strengths and fortes in life. But in this show, I had to push my boundaries. I remember when Amrit (Raj Gupta) bhai cast me in the show he said you have a UP dialect in the show and I was like oh no! (laughs). So, I was really excited about it also I was also really scared because I had to push myself. But you know facing my fears is something I really like doing in my life and this series is one of those things. I’m really glad it happened and I also really enjoyed talking to the MBBS students."
Do you know the full form of MBBS?
"Of course, I know it. It’s Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and in Latin, it translates to, Medicimae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae. I actually had to learn it and to be honest, the first time someone asked me I thought it must be something else entirely.
What is the one thing you’ll remember the most about shooting?
"I’ll remember a lot of things yaar like there are so many things. This is my first show with Dice that I will never forget. These are the people who believed in me. They have so much love for me. Shooting with Amrit bhai has been so, so special. Being out of my comfort zone, shooting in live location and learning a new dialect. There were a lot of people that would come up to me for pictures too. It was really humbling. I’m also gonna miss working with my co-actors, playing Nishant who is this carefree character who is used to speaking in that UP language all the time. I remember I was speaking in UP at my home to prepare for the character and my mom was like, “Who is this guy?!” I was talking to my girlfriend like this, “Arey hum tumhe keh rahe hain na, aa jao hum wait kar rahe hain neeche” and she was definitely shocked. I kept doing all this fun stuff. And I hope this does so well that we get a season 2."
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What do you think the audiences will love about the show?
"I think the audiences will love that it is one of the most authentic medical shows in India and I can vouch for it. The other shows we’ve had before are Sanjeevani, Dill mil gayye. Which were really fun shows, like my sister crushed on Karan Singh Grover to another level, even I did at one point! But this is not like any of those shows, this shows the struggles that students face. It discusses about what it takes to be a doctor and why doctors charge the fees that they do. Audience will find a newfound respect for it. It is a journey of three students, Mera Sara aur Anshul. Someone somewhere is gonna relate to the characters for sure. Because toppers are going to watch it and be like ye mera character nahi hai. Mera character vo hai jisko padhne ka mann nahi hota hai, jo rest 90% log honge (laughs) so you know there is so much difference, there is so much duality and triality in the show that people will have fun watching it. They will relate to some or the other characters as well, and I hope they love it.
Talking about his character, he further added,
“It is a drama series which you don't usually see on YouTube, OTTs pe toh it happens but YouTube pe aisa drama series nahi aata hai zyada so I’m really looking forward to the audience's response. I’ve mostly done cute romantic stuff but doing drama and something of this sort is really different. I had done it in ‘Mom and Co’ which really worked well for me. ‘Minus One’ was also a romantic-ish and now this again like comedy and drama so I hope people get the best of both worlds."
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Since this was the first drama series by Dice Media, how do you feel about it?
"Exactly this the first show where they are doing drama! This is like a new risk that Dice is taking and I'm glad that we are doing this together. So, I just hope we kill it."
Does it put any pressure on you?
"I don’t have any pressure because when I read the script, I knew this was a good story and good stories always work. So, I don’t have any pressure because I know for a fact that the series is very pure and it’s something which anyone would watch it and find it relatable. So, I really feel that when you have that in place then you don’t fear much but you never know so I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and hope that all the students love it."
How do you think OTT platforms have expanded the scope for creators and actors such as yourself?
"I’m really, really grateful that OTT has happened to us because web has just come in. Before there was no web there were just TV, films and ads and I remember doing ads because I wanted to pursue films. But web happened and I was like, “Ye toh mast hai yaar”. Like you can showcase your talents over here without chasing films. There are a variety of things that films are probably not even showing. I'm really happy web has happened to this industry because there are a lot of people who have found employment through this be it writers, directors, actors or technicians... everyone is happy. With this new addition, obviously getting the kind of work you want takes time but at least you get work. So, I’m really happy ki chalo web ne sabke liye ye sab toh sort kar hi dia hai. Also, because of this a lot of good cinema is gonna come out because if films are not up to the mark then people will be like, “Web shows are better than this”. So, everyone has to step up their game. People are gonna focus on quality now because there is so much exposure, there is no escape now because everyone is on the same platform. This is why I’m really happy that OTT has happend so that our industry is going in the right direction where we are going towards quality stuff. There are certain things which you cant say in films because economics is very different as a lot more money is invested there. Here the investment isn’t that high so you can take a risk."
Have you watched Ayush Mehra get into the shoes of a UP MBBS student on Dice Media's Operation MBBS? Go watch now!