By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Apr 2 (IANS): Actor Mukul Dev is receiving a lot of praise for his performance as a terrorist mastermind in the web series "State Of Siege: 26/11". He is also the man who penned the story of the Rajkummar Rao-starrer "Omerta" that released in 2018. Mukul says he does not feel the pressure of finding a balance between the two callings, as writing is just a "passion".

"I am an actor who also writes. I love reading so I read a lot of books. The interest in writing has developed recently. When I was writing the story of 'Omerta' I was not writing it to make a film or something. But when a filmmaker like Hansal Mehta picked up my story and turned it into a film, I thought that now I can consider myself as a legitimate writer. Having said that I am an actor and I will remain that. Writing is a little box of interest that I take out once in a while," Mukul Dev told IANS.

"State Of Siege: 26/11", directed by Matthew Leutwyler, has Mukul playing Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. The show also features Arjan Bajwa, Arjun Bijlani, Vivek Dahiya, Sid Makkar, Tara Alisha Berry, Khalida Jaan, Jyoti Gauba, Roshni Sahota, Suzanne Bernert, Naren Kumar and Jason Shah.

"Since I am an actor and am shooting most of the time, I have time in between shots and I keep writing then. I am surrounded by people who are filmmaker, producer and actors. So once in a while, they also inquire if I have a story or somethin. If they like it, they eventually make something out of it. But that is a time-consuming process and I see no reason of stop acting for my writing. Writing is a passion," he shared.

So, what is his favourite topic to write about? "I like to write on anything that is intriguing, unheard of -- something that is offbeat. I used to love reading Richard Bach. So yeah, writing will happen side by side," he replied.

"State Of Siege: 26/11" is streaming on ZEE5.