It takes years to move from paper to screen. For Amol Parashar’s The Bureaucrat, the wait from first hearing the script to going on floors stretched to about two years. “A filmmaker friend, who had read the story, suggested I do the show. He introduced me to Abhishek [Dhandharia, producer], but logistical issues kept delaying it,” shares the actor. Dhandharia reconnected with him six months ago when it was finally greenlit.

The idea of a civil services aspirant-turned-conman was too tempting for Parashar. “Shiddat se likhi hui cheezein, thode kam aate hain,” smiles the actor, adding that the pieces of the story fit well on paper, which got him “excited about the character.” Aware that there is no dearth of stories centred around the UPSC — Aspirants, now in its third season, and Vikrant Massey’s 12th Fail (2023) — Parashar is confident his show stands apart, as it uses civil services only as a backdrop.