Kay Kay Menon's Himmat Singh has found popularity with his performance in Special Ops. Now the actor is all set for the release of the next season of the espionage thriller, Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story. In this season, we go into a flashback with Himmat's character and find more about his personal life and his backstory. Ask Menon about what explains his connect with the audience and he says he just has to be himself to play this character with all his heart and soul. He also shares how actors like him stay grounded and modest because that's the essence of their performance. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kaykay Menon (@kaykaymenon02) In this season of Special Ops, the backstory of Kay Kay's Himmat Singh will be showcased. “It has been very interesting as it is Himmat's origin story. I just had to be myself and play the youth that I am," the actor chuckles. OTT has given him a new audience. Not just Special Ops but even his old films are being watched and re-watched on streaming platforms. Kay Kay accepts that the platform has opened a new avenue, “There is a particular way in which things function in our country. Perhaps, I personally would have fallen short of it, I don't know. But with OTT, the audience has the button in their hand. So, it becomes much more of a level playing field, so they have a choice of what they are watching, what they want to watch. I seriously believe that every person in the audience is very intelligent and I don't think if a person is watching a film on iPad or computer, they would stand up and start dancing like audience does to a "Sheila Ki Jawani" in theatres. That is a mass behaviour, individually, people are quite sorted. So, it works for us over there, as we are catering to that style of storytelling, that style of performances. So OTT works well for us.” Kay Kay started his career as a film actor with Naseeb (1995) where he played a religious fundamentalist. While his talent was always appreciated, it is believed that he didn't receive the number of projects and applause as he deserved. Does he think he is getting his due now? “It is the same for me," he says, "The camera is there and we act for it. What format it comes on is not our call as actors.” Special Ops was an experiment for the maker, Neeraj Pandey, as he wanted to test the web space. However, the series became a big hit during the Covid-19 induced lockdown and things took off like never before for Menon. Kay Kay, however, says that he never lets success or failure affect him. He says he dissociates from the project once his part is over and the shoot is wrapped. He says, “I personally am very dispassionate about it. I am very passionate while working, but once the last day of shoot is over I become dispassionate about the particular piece that I have done. And that's the best way to have a sane mind. Otherwise, the highs and lows of life will completely boggle your mind. When Special Ops did very well, we all were very happy, yes, we didn't expect anything, so this was quite a surprise. It became quite big, but we didn't think about that while making it." Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story, an action espionage thriller web-series created and directed by Neeraj Pandey is set inside the Special Ops Universe and stars Kay Kay Menon as the titular Himmat Singh. It will stream on Disney+ Hotstar from November 12, 2021.
