If you’ve opened the year playing the historical figure of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the second season of Freedom at Midnight, where do you go from there? To a far more internal story, if you’re Sidhant Gupta. The actor has starred in Duet, a short film directed by Sheetal Menon and backed by Bejoy Nambiar.

Duet came to him through Vikramaditya Motwane, who had given him his breakthrough series Jubilee (2023). Gupta told mid-day, “Vikramaditya Motwane called me and said, ‘It’s a short film. Just read it, only you can do it!’ When I read it, I wondered who wrote this piece of art in today’s times. I eventually met Sheetal Menon, who was holding on to the 30-page script for over a year-and-a-half.”