Mumbai, Aug 26 (IANS): Ali Merchant has been a part of the TV industry for a long time, though in recent years, he had taken a hiatus from the small screen.

Making his return to acting, Merchant will now be making his web debut with 'Libaas', which he said marks the beginning of his "2.0 journey".

Talking about his return, Merchant said, "It feels lovely. I used to live on sets when I was working for TV shows. Coming back to the sets after years feels overwhelming and the beginning of my 2.0 journey in the entertainment industry."

In the past, the actor gave out some of his most definitive performances in shows such as 'Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai', 'Lock Up' and 'Bandini', to name a few.

He had, however, taken a break from acting, with his only presence for a time being his collaboration with Kumar Sanu in the music video for his song 'Dhuan'. Now, Merchant will be seen as the lead alongside Nyra Banerjee in 'Libaas'.

Opening up about his character and his reason for choosing this show as his web debut, he said, "The name of the web show is 'Libaas'. It's in the crime and chase thriller genre."

Talking about his character, Merchant said, "I am playing the main lead and my character's name is Aditya Singh Ahlawat. I am playing a cool Haryanvi cop. It's the story based on how my character's life has to go through bad changes and then how he bounces back."

Detailing the reason for his hiatus from acting, Merchant said: "I wasn't getting anything that would excite me and I was also focusing on my parallel career as music producer and DJ. I believe at one time one should focus on one thing.

"I was travelling a lot, emptying out my acting skills, refilling myself with regional travel experiences and knowing different cultures and languages, which is helping me npow."

He concluded by saying: "When I got a call for the show, I didn't take this web show so seriously as I must have said no to 100 TV shows and wanted to do things beyond TV.

"Then one day Nyra Banerjee met me, she told me that the show is nice and she is also a part of it. After that, I called them immediately and heard the story in detail and said yes to it."