Want to keep doing versatile roles: Mihir Ahuja

Mumbai: Mihir Ahuja of "The Archies" fame said he doesn't want to get pigeonholed as an actor and wants to explore diverse genres in his career.

The 26-year-old, best known for playing Jughead in the 2023 ‘Netflix’ film "The Archies", recently made his international acting debut in the India Australian film production “Hindi Vindi”.

“The larger goal for me as an actor is to keep doing great stuff and play versatile roles. It's important for me to try different things and be a chameleon. I don't want to get stuck into just one genre of films. I want to try different genres and roles,” Ahuja told PTI in a virtual interview.

Released last month in Australia, “Hindi Vindi” is a musical drama which delves into the bond between a grandmother (played by Neena Gupta) and her Australian Indian grandchild Kabir (Ahuja). Ali Sayed has directed the movie from a script he wrote with Jay Sharma.

From playing the mouth organ in ‘Netflix’ series “Taj Mahal 1989”, beating the drums in “The Archies” and essaying the character of a vocalist in “Hindi Vindi”, Ahuja’s connection to music has been a recurring theme in his work.

“I've been lucky enough to do projects where music is involved,” he said, adding that even as a kid he was inclined towards music.

“There is some connection. It's also the universe calling, or is saying that 'Okay, you should invest more of your time in music too'. I'm getting those signals that I should do something interesting in music, apart from acting. So, I will, soon...” added the actor, whose acting credits include films such as “Vijay 69”, “Dhaakad” and web series “Made in Heaven”.

Ahuja is also looking forward to the release of his upcoming series “Maa Ka Sum”, where he stars alongside Mona Singh, Angira Dhar and Ranveer Brar. The math-themed coming-of-age drama is directed by Nicholas Kharkongor.

The ‘Amazon’ original series is the story of a 19-year-old math genius (Ahuja) and his ultimate quest to create an algorithm to find the perfect match for his vivacious single mother (Singh). Despite his faith in the sanctity of numbers, he begins to realise that nothing in life is absolute - when it comes to human relationships, every equation is a ‘work-in-progress’.

Ahuja said he has been fortunate to work alongside some of the industry’s most seasoned actors, including Gupta in “Hindi Vindi”, Singh in “Made in Heaven” and “Ma Ka Sum” and Anupam Kher in “Vijay 69”.

“They have been in the industry for so long and they're pretty good at what they do. Just observing them on set makes a huge difference,” he added.