Be it 12th Fail or Maamla Legal Hai, Anant V. Joshi is known for his ability to slip into any part with chameleonic ease. When we caught up with the versatile actor, he was in Spain where he spends a month every year learning and perfecting his flamenco moves. “This is a passion project for me,” smiles Anant, who is winning praise for Season 5 of the SonyLIV winner Gullak, in which he steps into the shoes of Anand “Annu” Mishra, played in the previous four seasons of the show — which tells the heartwarming story of the highs and lows of a middle-class household in small-town India — by Vaibhav Raj Gupta. t2 caught up with Anant to know more.
You keep going back to Spain to learn flamenco. What spurred that interest?
I am always inspired to try new art forms. Flamenco has been an interest and a passion which drew me in. I make an annual trip to Spain for a little top-up of training.
Speaking of Gullak, what was your initial reaction on being asked to step into the role of an iconic character like Annu and what was the experience like?
When I got the call from TVF (producer) that they were planning to take this big leap, my only question, besides the excitement of being part of this team, was: “Are you sure?!” (Laughs) Once they said they were very sure, meetings started, and with every single meeting, the faith kept growing. I was very happy with the decision and the experience of doing this show.
What were the first few days on set as Annu like? Did you blend in seamlessly, even though you weren’t there in the first four seasons, or did you take your time to know and understand Gullak and its world?
We had workshops before we started shooting, and that was the time to gel and mingle. I will credit the entire Mishra family (the central family in Gullak) and their neighbours, who made me feel so welcome. They are such an amazing set of actors that I felt at home straightaway.
I have worked with Harsh (Mayar), Sunitaji (Rajwar) and Geetanjali (Kulkarni) before. So, everyone was quite familiar and we were happy to be together again. Yeh ek bada hi achha aur positive set tha. When Geetanjali and I were working on the film Cobalt Blue, she was shooting Gullak Season 2. And she would share memories and moments from the sets of the show with me.
With Gullak, I never felt that I didn’t belong here. Even the director, Abhay Raut, made me feel a part of the show from the get-go. All of them empowered me. Otherwise, there was always the risk of feeling uncomfortable because I knew that I was replacing a very loved actor (Vaibhav Raj Gupta) in a very popular part. One would feel the need to tread carefully, constantly asking: “Yaar, yeh theek jaa raha hai ki nahin?” But Shreyansh Pandey, the showrunner, would always tell me: “Bro, we have complete faith in you.”
How did you achieve the balance of retaining the essence of Annu as audiences have known and loved him, and yet make the character distinctly your own?
I had to walk somewhere in the middle. The way Vaibhav played this character was so amazing. He had imparted a unique rhythm to the character, which I couldn’t, of course, emulate because I am a completely different person and actor. Usmein mujhe koi chhed khaani nahin karni thi.
But I had a great foundation to work on and I built on that. This is a different season altogether and the characters have also grown in their respective lives. Like every season, there are different stories unfolding this time too. The new season allowed me to bring something of my own — my experiences with life, with people.... It is good for an actor to try something that you haven’t done, and Gullak 5 has given me that experience. It was a very smooth ride.
Purely speaking from the point of view of the audience, what do you think has made Gullak sustain its popularity over five seasons to make it one of the biggest streaming franchises?
Before I became a part of it, I had watched all seasons of Gullak. I think what the audience likes most about these characters is their ability to see themselves in each of them. Har koi bolta hain ki unke wahan bhi ek Bittu ki mummy hain, ek Shanti Mishra hain.... When people start talking about a show and its characters like this, then you know that it has hit the right chord. That makes Gullak such a big success story.
You have acted in many ensembles, both in films and on the web. Do you thrive the most as an actor in such a set-up?
Yes. All the ensembles I have featured in so far have had a great reach. That is what I have been offered so far, so I have nothing else to compare it to. Except Ajey (2025), which was a biopic and a different format altogether. 12th Fail may have been the story of Vikrant’s character (Vikrant Massey), Manoj Sharma, but the rest of the actors — whether it was me, Anshuman (Pushkar) or Medha (Shankr) — brought in our bit to make the film what it is. The same goes for Kathal and Maamla Legal Hai.
What has been the turning point as an actor for you?
That would undoubtedly be 12th Fail. After that film, many more people started taking me seriously as an actor. It is such a loved and widely seen film that it benefited everyone associated with it. And recently, Maamla Legal Hai has brought in a lot of attention for me. But I truly think that every project is a defining turn, a turning point for an actor in some way, good or bad. There will hardly be any projects that will never leave an impact on you as an actor.
Till now, I haven’t started engaging as an actor in such a way that everything I do has to be a milestone. I have just started my journey and I see it as a long one. This is not just a profession for me; it is a lifestyle I am committing to. I haven’t given myself a timeline in which I have to achieve certain goals as an actor. All I want to be doing at this point is playing every character with my heart and soul and make the audience feel something for it. That is something jo mere bas mein hain. Anything beyond that is not in my control.
Is there a specific kind of role you hope will be offered to you soon?
I am very intrigued by twisted minds. I love it when there is more to a character than what meets the eye. To some extent, I got to do that as Pritam Pandey in 12th Fail. It may have seemed like an easygoing character on the surface, but it gave me the opportunity to explore human insecurities and where it leads us. I find these sort of characters to be very interesting because they give me my purpose of being an actor, which is to sort of dig deeper than just saying yeh actor achha dikhta hai, achhe kapde pehnta hain, achchi tarah se dialogue bolta hain... I want to explore the psychology of the people I play.
Finally, like many of us, did you have a gullak aka a piggy bank, growing up?
Of course! But I didn’t have one made of clay. Mine was an empty bottle of Chyawanprash that was converted into a gullak, which is a very middle-class thing to do.
I remember it was a two-kg bottle that I managed to fill. Whenever I took any coins out of it, I would ask my father to promptly give me more and refill it! The joy of seeing one’s gullak full is priceless. Thank you for asking this question. It took me right back to my childhood.
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