‘I hate glorifying my struggle’

Karan Tacker was on holiday in Mussoorie when he received a call from a casting director. He auditioned for the same role thrice before he was finalised as Farooq Ali in Neeraj Pandey’s acclaimed action espionage thriller ‘Special Ops’ on OTT. So, a holiday literally changed his life. He met Pandey and gradually did ‘Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story’, ‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’ and now ‘Special Ops Season 2’ with him.

“I am lucky to be associated with a filmmaker like Neeraj Pandey. Also, the character graph of Farooq Ali is different. There’s an amazing mystery in playing the underdog. I couldn’t have had a better debut on OTT than ‘Special Ops’,” said Karan, who first appeared in the Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma starrer ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ in a small role in 2008.

Karan is known for his work on TV, especially as Viren in the TV show ‘Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai’. He was also seen in ‘Rang Badalti Odhani’, ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’ and ‘Nach Baliye’.

Quoting one of his favourite actors, Cillian Murphy, he said that he doesn’t want to be defined by the medium he works on. Rather, he wants to be known for his craft. And Karan is working hard to make his dreams come true. In 2025, he made his Cannes debut for Anupam Kher’s directorial ‘Tanvi The Great’. As an outsider, it wasn’t an easy task to reach Cannes, but Karan embraces all the highs and lows of his journey.

“I hate glorifying my struggle. We all have our own journey and struggles. It’s been a tough ride. To date, I need to pave my way and get work as an outsider. As an outsider, you don’t get an opportunity to fail. Every time we look at a project, we try to think that nothing will go wrong. But that cannot always happen. So, I put my best efforts to shine in whatever role I am playing,” said Karan, who is all set to reprise the role of Farooq Ali in ‘Special Ops 2’, which will premiere on ‘JioHotstar’ on July 11.