Actor Shalin Bhanot has made his OTT debut with 'Inspector Avinash'. The series released on Jio Cinema on May 18. Shalin has played the character Baljeet Singh who is a cop. With this role, he has donned a never-seen-before avatar.?

Ahead of the release of the show, we had a free-wheeling conversation with Shalin where he spoke about his character, the challenges he faced doing it and a lot more.?

Bhanot said that his character Baljeet Singh is by far the toughest role he has done. He added, "It's a very complex character which is totally opposite to me (he laughs). He is very matured and going through a lot in his life during the show. He is struggling very hard with his emotions and there is a lot of layering in the character".

While talking about the challenges, the 'Bekaboo' actor said, "There were a lot of challenges. I had to break down myself even off the camera. I had to get into the skin of the character and read a lot because it's based on real-life incidents. I met a couple of officers who worked then and spoke to them".?

The 'Bigg Boss' fame actor also had to grow his beard and put on weight and it took him three-four months to get into the character when they started shooting. Shalin also revealed that there came a point when he stopped smiling off-camera and didn't even talk to anyone on set. It took time for him to get back to his own self. "I used to tell myself, 'Life is so beautiful'. It took me some time to get out of the character but now it's over," he said.?

Shalin is a known face on television as he has done several shows. When asked if television would be his 'first love', the handsome hunk said, "I don't differentiate in love. I treat everyone equally. There is no first or second in love. My love is towards my craft whether it's on television, OTT, theatre, movies anything. Till the time my audiences are getting entertained with me, I am happy."

Coming back to 'Inspector Avinash', it is written and directed by Neerraj Pathak. Randeep Hooda is playing the lead role and the show also stars Urvashi Rautela, Adhyayan Suman, Amit Sial, Abhimanyu Singh,?Freddy Daruwala, Rahul Mittra?in pivotal roles.