Kartik says, “I was trying thriller for the first time. Plus, my character in that film had streaks of grey in it. It wasn’t a positive character. At the end of the day I knew I had done a good job as an actor, but I was only worried about the fact that would my fans and the viewers accept me the same way they do for my rom-com parts. I just wanted them to love me the way they always shower love on all the positive characters I play on screen.”

While that made Kartik anxious, he is finally happy with the acceptance he got for the Ram Madhvani directorial that additionally featured Mrunal Thakur. Discussing the success, Kartik says, “I am happy everyone enjoyed watching me on screen again. All the praises that I received just gave me a sense of validation. When you start off doing something new in life you want that validation and I think all the reviews, the appreciation posts on social media, all the messages, and the phone calls I received really validated my choice of work and choice of character. It was one of the most challenging roles of my career. I am thankful to the audience and everyone from the industry for loving it. So, from here on you will see me in more and more different avatars and a lot more challenging roles.”

While talking about his movie and character to Times of India, he said, “Dhamaka is the most challenging film of my career, and Arjun Pathak is the most difficult character that I have played. In reality, I’m a very high-spirited person, so when I did a few of my previous films, which were in the romcom space, I felt slightly more comfortable. However, Dhamaka pushed me to expand my boundaries as an actor. I play the role of a journalist, so my prep had definitely increased and was more detailed. I studied the lives of news reporters and watched various documentaries for a better understanding. It was also during the lockdown, so that gave me that time to get into this character deeply. Arjun’s character is layered and intense, so I really worked to live him in every way possible.”

Further, he gave his views on the response of people who have watched the movie before the release. He said, “I am very happy about the response that we have received so far, but yes, there is slight nervousness too, because I have worked extremely hard for this role, and I hope the audiences enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it for them.”

The cast also includes Mrunal Thakur, Amruta Subash and Vikas Kumar.