Actor-comic
Naveen
Richard
is
thrilled
with
reactions
coming
his
way
for
Pushpavalli
season
two
and
he
says
the
response
feels
sweeter
as
the
team
worked
hard
to
not
fall
into
the
trap
of
repeating
themselves
in
the
new
chapter.
Created
by
comic
Sumukhi
Suresh
who
also
stars
in
the
title
role,
the
first
season
of
the
Amazon
Prime
Video's
original
series
saw
Pushpavalli
move
to
Bengaluru
from
Bhopal
to
stalk
Nikhil,
a
man
she
is
obsessed
with.
The
new
season
chronicles
the
revenge
Pushpavalli
plans
against
Nikhil,
who
rejected
her
advances.
Naveen
said
the
team
wrote
season
two
for
close
to
eight
months
and
he
came
on
board
towards
the
end.
"Between
season
one
and
writing
two,
I
was
also
working
on
the
'Better
Life
Foundation'
web
series.
By
the
time
I
got
back
to
the
show,
I
forgot
the
expectations,
which
helped.
You
want
to
do
better
for
sure.
But
the
thing
which
was
challenging
was
to
not
fall
in
the
same
pattern
in
writing
and
character
arcs.
"You'll
be
writing
for
days
and
would
suddenly
realise,
'Damn,
we
have
done
this
before.'
Even
with
Pankaj,
we
had
to
give
him
a
lot
of
other
things
to
do," Naveen
told
PTI
in
an
interview.
The
Bengaluru-based
comedian,
whose
performance
as
the
perennially
angry
librarian
Pankaj
has
earned
him
praise
from
all
quarters,
asserted
he
is
nothing
like
his
on-screen
character.
"I
am
glad
the
audience
bought
into
the
character
and
they
were
able
to
feel
like
he's
real
because
he's
so
different
from
who
I
am.
I'm
glad
people
found
it
convincing
and
weren't
put
off
by
the
yelling,
which
means
his
softness
also
felt
real.
"It
is
hard
to
get
people
to
like
a
character
who
keeps
shouting.
I
guess
we
gave
him
a
good
arc," he
said.
Naveen
said
the
trick
was
to
also
show
a
different,
softer
side
of
Pankaj,
who,
as
a
lot
of
people
texted
him
saying,
"truly
cares
for
Pushpavalli,"
who
manages
to
manipulate
probably
the
only
true
friend
she
has.
"Inherently
I'm
a
more
approachable
guy.
That's
why
in
the
scenes
where
he's
interacting
with
Swati
(Preetika
Chawla)
you
see
how
much
of
a
softy
he
really
is.
Once
you
show
the
audience
that's
who
he
is
(they
will
relate)...
On
top
of
that,
he
always
means
well."
His
onscreen
love-hate
relationship
with
Sumukhi
has
been
appreciated
a
lot
and
the
comedian
said
the
secret
to
their
chemistry
is
their
longtime
off-screen
friendship.
"The
chemistry
comes
from
years
of
working
together.
In
fact,
the
moment
we
started
working
together,
I
remember,
she
had
a
sketch
with
her
friends
and
they
wanted
me
to
play
a
few
parts
in
it.
We
started
getting
along,
both
Tamilians
in
Bengaluru
connecting
with
each
other.
"It's
really
cool
to
work
with
someone
who
is
so
energetic.
We
have
been
doing
sketches
for
so
many
years
now.
When
two
people
act
on
stage
together,
you
really
have
to
connect
to
that
person.
It's
much
easier
for
us
to
connect
in
front
of
a
camera,
also
because
she
is
one
of
my
closest
friends,"
he
added.
Naveen,
who
has
been
writing,
featuring
on
shows
and
doing
stand-up
comedy
for
close
to
a
decade,
said
as
a
comedian,
there's
always
pressure
to
constantly
keep
the
laughs
coming.
"It's
hard
not
to
get
into
the
pressure,
especially
when
you're
on
stage.
When
you're
on
stage
and
telling
a
good
story,
you
know
when
the
audience
is
engaged.
Then
you
don't
care
about
the
laughs.
As
long
as
it
works
in
the
end.
If
you're
confident
that
the
pay
off
is
good,
it's
fine,"
he
said.
"When
you're
writing
a
show
like
'Pushpavalli
2',
it's
different.
There
are
scenes
where
we
know
we
don't
have
any
laughs
and
then
there
are
scenes
we
know
you'll
laugh
a
lot,"
he
added.
Naveen
said
being
a
comedian
is
about
trying
to
stay
calm,
maintaining
some
discipline
in
life
and
being
able
to
write
"while
also
relaxing
so
that
life
can
happen
to
you".
"You
can't
be
afraid
to
make
mistakes
and
get
into
silly
situations
but
not
forcing
silly
situations.
It's
about
being
a
little
adventurous.
The
more
you
experience,
the
more
you
write.
I
try
not
to
lead
too
boring
a
life,
otherwise
you
won't
have
anything
to
talk
about,"
he
added.
The
comedian
also
has
his
latest
Amazon
comedy
special,
"Relatively
Relatable",
streaming
right
now
and
said
it
is
a
"lovely
coincidence"
that
it
debuted
right
after
the
second
season
of
"Pushpavalli".
"It
feels
good.
I'm
so
glad
I
get
to
surprise
the
audience
with
a
character
like
Pankaj
and
then
the
goofy
side
of
me
which
is
my
special,"
he
added.