Bhuvan Arora, Divyenndu Sharma talk Waiting Hai, scams and ticket struggles

Actors Bhuvan Arora and Divyenndu Sharma explore the frustrating world of railway ticket booking in their new Amazon MX Player series Waiting Hai. While Divyenndu plays Sugam Mishra, a simple and idealistic man trying to uncover a railway ticket scam, Bhuvan plays Afroz Hamza, a computer-savvy young man from Bihar who finds a way to hack the railway network.

Interestingly, when asked which side they would trust if they were stuck with a waitlisted ticket, both actors chose Afroz’s way over Sugam’s rulebook.

“I think I'll go with Afroz's way,” Bhuvan told India Today.

Divyenndu agreed, saying the show's premise is rooted in a problem that is familiar to millions of Indians. “I think I'll also go with Afroz's way,” he said.

Bhuvan Arora on playing a hacker in Waiting Hai

Bhuvan describes Afroz as a regular college boy from Bihar who has been largely ignored and underprivileged. He receives a computer through a government scheme and becomes deeply immersed in it, eventually finding a way to hack the railway network.

“He isn't great at many things, but he's definitely a wise guy and very smart with computers,” Bhuvan said.

For the actor, Afroz's lack of a family and his need for attention make him more complicated than a conventional antagonist. At the same time, he struggles to take responsibility for his actions.

“He is quite complex, but also a very enjoyable character for an actor to explore. I thoroughly enjoyed playing him,” he said.

Playing a computer hacker did not require Bhuvan to become one himself, but he did have to understand the basics of coding. The bigger challenge, he said, was getting Afroz's language, body language and mannerisms right.

Since Bhuvan is not from Bihar, he worked with dialect coach. He also focussed on Afroz's physicality because the character is introverted and spends much of his time sitting alone.

“Afroz has never really been out much. He is always sitting on a chair and is also quite introverted. He keeps everything inside and is very reserved,” Bhuvan said.

We are all grey: Bhuvan on Farzi comparisons

Bhuvan was previously seen in Farzi, another series involving technology, crime and morally grey characters. So, did he worry that audiences might compare Waiting Hai with the Shahid Kapoor-led show?

“We are all grey in life. I don't know anybody who is completely black and white, apart from some furniture in my house! We are all grey," Bhuvan said.

He added that he would have been concerned if the two shows belonged to the same genre, but believes Waiting Hai tells a very different story.

“The two characters might sound similar on paper, but they aren't. I don't think people will draw parallels between Farzi and Waiting Hai because this is a completely different story,” he said.

According to Bhuvan, the existence of multiple scams also means that there cannot be a single template for depicting criminals.

“There are many kinds of scams in India and around the world. You can't have one character for every scam. Every criminal is different and every crime is different,” he added.

Divyenndu on playing a ‘simpleton’

Divyenndu's Sugam is very different from Afroz. A newly married man starting a new job, Sugam finds himself caught up in a railway ticket scam and decides to investigate it.

“Sugam Mishra is a young boy who is a complete simpleton. He is starting a new job and has recently got married, so he is trying to balance both worlds,” Divyenndu said.

Sugam is driven by a belief in doing the right thing. However, his attempt to uncover the scam takes him into a world of hierarchy, bureaucracy and red tape.

“He is very pure at heart and a little naive. He just wants to do something good in life. He is one of those people who believe in goodness, and this whole situation gives him a certain purpose,” the actor said.

For Divyenndu, Sugam's journey is not just about exposing a scam. It also becomes a process of discovering more about himself.

Bhuvan and Divyenndu's off-screen friendship

The two actors play characters on opposite sides of the central conflict, but their equation off-screen was very different. Both trained at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), which gave them an immediate point of connection.

Bhuvan said he felt an unusual familiarity with Divyenndu even before they started working together.

“I didn't feel like I was shooting with Divyenndu for the first time. For some strange reason, I felt like we had already met and worked together before, even though we hadn't,” he said.

Divyenndu agreed that they became friends quickly, which helped when they had to portray characters working against each other.

“When you are playing two characters who are against each other — you could call them the protagonist and antagonist, or two people coming from different forces — having good chemistry off-screen makes the chemistry on screen even better,” he said.

‘I’ve literally lived the train ticket struggle’

The railway ticket problem depicted in Waiting Hai is not unfamiliar to either actor. Divyenndu said the issue remains something people regularly hear about, despite not necessarily dealing with it themselves anymore.

“Railways are such an important part of the country. There is a problem that troubles a lot of people, and I think it is high time we looked into it and made people's lives a little easier,” he said.

For Bhuvan, the subject is particularly personal. His father was in the Army, which meant the family moved around frequently. He recalled being given the responsibility of booking train tickets at the counter from a young age.

“I have literally lived the situation we have shown in the trailer and the show — you have to reach the counter, be first in the queue and wake up early in the morning just to get a ticket,” he said.

Even after going through that process, he pointed out, getting a ticket was not guaranteed.

“And even after doing all that, you might still not get one because someone sitting somewhere else is running a scam,” Bhuvan added.

He believes the problem is larger than people realise and hopes the familiarity of the subject will connect the series with viewers.

“Millions of people have faced it, so if all those people watch our show, that would be enough for us,” he said.

Although Waiting Hai mentions Patna Junction, much of the railway-station filming took place in Uttar Pradesh, including Prayagraj and Lucknow.

Waiting Hai brings Bhuvan and Divyenndu together in a story about a railway ticket scam, but for both actors, its appeal lies in the very ordinary problem at the heart of it — one that millions of Indians have experienced while simply trying to get home.

The series is streaming on Amazon MX Player.