Kay Kay Menon is one of the lucky few who had the courage to answer his true calling. He grew up in Pune, did the usual school and college plays, went on to complete his MBA at Pune University, followed by a five-year stint at climbing the corporate ladder, before chucking it all up for a career in acting.

According to Kay Kay, “One fine day I found my work completely uninteresting and what I wanted to do just stared at me in the face. So I followed the swadharma — my path in life.”

After nearly 10 years of being in the profession, Kay Kay’s path has been full of interesting episodes: much like the 20-25 odd serials he’s acted in. “When I started out, I was doing small cameos and involved in stage activities. The pay was not much but it wasn’t hurting since I was doing it out of choice. In a sense, I felt liberated after I started acting.”

Prime time television had just taken over the minds of half the population and like many, Kay Kay got a chance to make his foray into the half-hour slots on the small screen. “I had done a cameo in Sayeed Mirza’s Naseem five years back and around the same time the TV offers came,” says Kay Kay.

Darr, which was aired on Star Plus, was one of the many serials he made an impression with. But with soaps like Shanti and Swabhimaan ruling the TRP’s, Kay Kay instead chose to build his repertoire with weekly serials. “I was never in favour of soaps. It’s extremely gruelling so doing serials suited my appetite.”

Kay Kay got an opportunity to act opposite Naseeruddin Shah in Mahatma vs Gandhi where he played Gandhi’s son. He thinks, “That was the highlight of my theatre career. We toured abroad and both audiences as well as critics appreciated my work. It was then all worth it.”

Adman and film director Mahesh Mathai saw Kay Kay in one of the performances and called him to audition for a film he was planning to make. What followed was Bhopal Express, a film that toured the festival circuit but got little commerical acclaim.

Kay Kay played a newly-married Union Carbide supervisor and once again, got rave reviews along with co-stars Naseeruddin Shah, Zeenat Aman and Nethra Raghuraman. “After Bhopal Express, I didn’t have to introduce myself as an actor. It was good for me.”

He has also completed another low-budget film by scriptwriter-turned-filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. “In Paanch I play a negative protaganist. The character is diametrically opposite to what I played in Bhopal Express.” Besides this, he is also due to start shooting for Hanslal Mehta’s Chhal.

Although both films are due to release later this year, filmmaker Ketan Mehta caught some scenes of Paanch and was suitably impressed. “He convinced me to do Pradhan Mantri because of the different colours in my character.”

Playing the Prime Minister of India, Kay Kay says, “is a challenge because I have to play every emotion with dignity. For example, anger has to be channelised and curbed to the right extent.” So what is the PM like? “Oh, so far he is a very nice man, a good father, husband.

But a TV script always develops. This guy doesn’t come from a political family so it’s not like there is a legacy to uphold like Rajiv Gandhi. He comes to power because he has no enemies and people think he’s the best bet in the situation. But then he makes his own decisions, of course.”

Kay Kay admits he is not a very political person and did not do much in-depth research because “it’s not a historical role which would recquire me to study” but with help from M.J. Akbar who conceived the script, he says, “I found out the decorum of how a political family functions.”

Does he hope to get much mileage from the role? “I don’t like to run, I prefer walking instead,” concludes Kay Kay. Yes, Prime Minister.