Ali Fazal made a career-altering choice when he bagged the role of Guddu Bhaiyya on Prime Video’s Mirzapur. The show catapulted the already-talented actor’s career, and his character grew to arguably become one of the most popular Indian TV characters of all time. But there was a chance none of this would have ever happened.

Fazal recently sat down with Filmfare, and revealed that he was instantly drawn to the character of Guddu, but he was initially offered the role of Munna, now played by Divyenndu. “I was stuck on Guddu. I was offered another part initially. I think it was Munna’s part, which Divyenndu has done. At that time, I was so invested in Guddu because I felt like there was so much I could bring to it,” he told Filmfare.

He also revealed how he tried to distance himself from the role by making an excuse. “I really like parts that are unpredictable to me. If I can figure out the entire journey in my head, then it’s no fun. There won’t be any team work because I am not the only person. So I made an excuse. I said I don’t have dates, something has come up. So I left. Then I got a call back later saying that we want to see, let’s try this,” he added.

If you liked this, read our October cover story featuring Pankaj Tripathi, where he talks about his meteoric success, the future of OTT, and Mirzapur 2.