Exclusive! U Turn actor Priyanshu Painyuli: Picking the right project is important for growth

Priyanshu Painyuli's career was on the rise when, in 2020, the coronavirus-imposed lockdown took place and the world came to a standstill.

However, he managed to carve a niche for himself and maintain visibility with multiple projects that were released on different OTT platforms during the lockdown. He also starred in the Netflix international project Extraction, the film Rashmi Rocket, the anthology Unpaused: Naya Safar, and the web series Mirzapur 2, to name a few.

Ahead of the release of his new film U Turn, we asked him if any emotional shift took place for him during the lockdown that reflected in his professional life.

Priyanshu told OTTplay, "I think that overall, the lockdown taught us a lot as individuals. Being an actor, I had several realisations. Of course, we learned about our privileges over all things basic, like food, shelter, and our loved ones being taken care of. As an actor, I realised that making the right choices of projects is very important for growth in my career. Since the audience has become very sharp with the kinds of content they are watching now, be it a Spanish show with subtitles or K-dramas that have become a part of our pop culture, as content consumers, we have changed. So, as actors, we have to be careful with the kinds of stories we choose."

In U-Turn, Priyanshu plays a police officer who is investigating a mysterious murder that takes place on a road, and in the process, he gets dragged into something deeper and discovers some supernatural elements.

The film is an adaptation of the successful 2018 Telugu film of the same name, which had Samantha as the protagonist.

U-Turn also stars Rajesh Sharma, Manu Rishi Chada, Ashim Gulati, Shriidhar Dubey, Tariq Mir, Ramandeep Yadav, and Grusha Kapoor. It will be available to stream on OTTplay and ZEE5 starting April 28.