In a conversation with Guardian 20, Kaushal speaks about his childhood days and his equation with the director Anurag Kashyap.
Q. You started off as an assistant director on the sets of Gangs of Wasseypur. How did acting happen then?
A. Actually, the reason why I worked as an assistant director was because I wanted to be an actor. My plan was always to be an actor but before I tried to become an actor I wanted to know the entire process from behind the camera. Also, there are lots of technicalities involved in acting in front of the camera, so I wanted to have a ground-level training of how 200-300 people come together to make a film. I wanted to have that knowledge, and I had planned to be an assistant director for only one project in order to understand the basics of film-making and to try my luck as an actor after it.
Q. Talk about your equation with Anurag Kashyap.
A. Anurag sir is like my family outside the family. He is my guardian and mentor in the industry. He has seen me growing up. When he was making Black Friday and Gulaal, my father was the action director for his films. And he used to come home for meetings with my father. And there is a tradition; all the meetings in my home are done over breakfast, over Punjabi paratha and achar. So, he has seen me when I was in school and used to serve him breakfast. He knows my upbringing. Nobody in the industry knows me better than him. All the knowledge I have about cinema is because of him. He means a lot to me.
Q. With a father who was an action director in the industry, what was your childhood like?
A. My father never wanted me to become an actor. The thing is, my father comes from a very small village in Punjab, where my grandmother owned a Kirane ki shop. My father did an M.A. in English literature from Punjab University. He wanted to become a lecturer but he couldn’t make it because of his financial limitations. He came to Bombay and struggled a lot and ended up becoming a stuntman. After being a stuntman for 8-10 years, he became an action director. So, I was born in a 10X10 chawl. He was very happy that I was studying engineering. I would become an engineer who would get a monthly pay-cheque. He wanted me to continue in academics. But soon I realised that I could not continue with it. I felt that I wouldn’t be able to do a 9-to-5 job. I felt liberated on stage when I performed in schools and colleges, and I realized that I wanted to be an actor. When I shared this with my father, he was not very happy. But I told him that if I didn’t do what I wanted to do I would regret it later in my life. And even if I would be struggling as an actor for the next ten years I would be happy since I’d do what I truly wanted to do. My father understood me and said that he would stand by me as a father, but not as an action director. It was going to be my own battle. That is how my journey was.
Q. Masaan is more of a critically acclaimed film where you got noticed for your acting, and it came as a turning point in your career. How does it feel?
A. It feels really good. As an actor it is your duty to lay your heart out. And when you get appreciated for it and receive love for it you feel very motivated and encouraged. You try to give your best in whatever you try to do. Masaan gave me that boost and it was very special for me. The kind of work that I wanted to do, the kind of people I wanted to work with, I got that opportunity after this film. I started getting calls from the same offices and doors which I had knocked on earlier. It was a special experience.
“I felt that I wouldn’t be able to do a 9-to-5 job. I felt liberated on stage when I performed in schools and colleges and I realised that I wanted to be an actor. ”
Q. After Masaan, Raman Raghav 2.0 showed the other side of your acting. How did you decide on such a quick transition when people take years to break the mould?
A. I feel very lucky that it happened because both time and audiences are changing. I think actors are craving for roles which are poles apart from their previous roles. And I feel lucky that the opportunity came my way through Anurag Sir. And I am not an actor who got launched in a grand way and therefore, I got that role because of my credibility. To be honest, I am in a learning phase. I’m someone who is just exploring. I am just learning to walk in this industry, I am that new. And this film was also like a test for me as a performer, and I wanted to figure out whether I’ll be able to do this or not. I was exploring my own strengths and weaknesses. It’s a privilege to work in such a film. I learnt a lot from Anurag Sir and Nawaz Bhai (Nawazuddin Siddiqui).
Q. In an interview, you said, “I do not have the body and the looks of a hero”. What made you say so?
A. The first time I told myself that I want to be an actor was in the 2nd year of my engineering. I was a lanky and underweight fellow with curly hair. And when I saw myself in the mirror I could not imagine myself as an actor. After 10 years I have realized, as an actor now, that the definitions to become an actor have been changed. So, “I want to be an actor” — there wasn’t a full stop after it; it was a question mark for me. And it has always been understood that only good looking guys can be a hero and when you don’t have that, you need to have the guts to tell yourself that you want to be an actor. It was not insecurity that I had to fight with, but it was a doubt that I had in myself. I am happy to be in this phase of change in the industry when even the audience is accepting you as who you are.
Q. You have a pivotal role in the upcoming Sanjay Dutt biopic. Could you please tell us about this?
A. I can’t really talk about this part as it is too early to speak anything on this. We are shooting right now, but it is a dream come true experience as I am working with Rajkumar Hirani and with actors whom I really admire. Working with them is an amazing experience. It’s a sheer pleasure to be a part of such project whose team is so down to earth.
Q. Are we going to see you in proper commercial cinema?
A. Yes, you will. I am a guy who has grown up seeing commercial Hindi cinema and that’s the reason why I wanted to become an actor. I want to entertain the audience. As an actor, I want to explore as many genres as I can. There are audiences for all kinds of films, so I want to do all kinds of cinema. I am coming with two big commercial films this year, one is Aanand L Rai production and the other is the Sanjay Dutt biopic.