Shagun explains why he's not inspired by Singham, Simmba for his cop character in Mera Balam Thandedaar: 'Why take...'

Actor Shagun Pandey, who is popularly known as Atharv Bapat from Tujhse Hai Raabta and Meet Ahlawat from Meet: Badlegi Duniya Ki Reet, is all set to play his first on screen cop character in the new show Mera Balam Thanedar. During the promotion of the action drama series, Shagun joins DNA for an exclusive interaction.

In the show, Shagun plays a no nonsense, loyal, and determined police inspector Veer Pratap Singh, who is on a mission to bust the racket of fake birth certificates, and stop the marriages of underage girls. Speaking about his association with the show, Shagun admits that he manifested this character, he always wanted to play a cop, with utmost sincerity.

For this role, Shagun underwent rigorous physical training and worked hard to achieve the required physique for the show. Bollywood has produced some popular iconic cop characters. In recent times, we have Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) from Dabangg, Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) from Singham, Simmbar (Ranveer Singh) and Sooryavanshi (Akshay Kumar).

However, Shagun has not taken inspiration or references from any on screen cop, and he shares a valid reason for it, "Why take references of frontline heroes from reel life? Why can't we take inspiration from our real heroes? Ajay Devgn did what he could under Rohit Shetty's supervision.

Akshay Kumar did what he had to, Ranveer Singh did what he had to and (Amitabh) Bachchan Saab has done his own cop roles. My ideal is real life cops. I am not here for a 3 hour film. I would meet my audience daily for 30 minutes. So, I have to be as real and as close to the source. The audience will accept me only when I will relate to them.

When they find their friend or family member or someone close to them in me. Isi liye mere liye ideal hai jo bahar khada hai, the real cop, who's standing outside and has the power to bring a change in society." Shagun says he aims to bring Veer Pratap Singh as close to reality and make him an ideal cop character.

He further adds that audience acceptance will make the character the larger than life hero automatically. Mera Balam Thanedaar also stars Shruti Choudhary opposite Shagun. The show premieres on the 3rd of January, airing every Monday to Friday at 9:30 pm only on Colors..