Bad man Gulshan Grover at a happy stage of his career

With over 25 years of experience, actor Gulshan Grover still insists on re-inventing himself with every role. Irrespective of how the industry and the audience have perceived his efforts, he has diligently stuck to doing what he does best — entertain. Some time back, when he was awarded the Best Actor International at the New York City Film Festival and later, Best Actor at the Houston Film Festival for his portrayal of the noted spiritual guru, Bhagawan Dada in Desperate Endeavours, Gulshan was an excited man.

“There can only be two sorts of reaction to awards — ecstasy and the sour grape mentality. I don’t know why I haven’t received too many of them in India, even though I feel they are very important to any performing artist. Maybe, I concentrated too much on winning hearts rather than awards,” he reminisces. Of course, playing Bhagawan Dada on screen has been a very memorable experience for Gulshan. “This man has millions of followers around the world — there’s countless video footage of his and there are so many people who have personally known him. All this was a tad bit unnerving for me — I was worried of being compared to the actual person. But I realised this was my challenge and agreed to the film,” informs the actor.

He’s also looking forward to his forthcoming film, Agent Vinod, in which he will be presented differently. “Working with Sridhar Raghavan has been very enriching and I must say Saif’s (Ali Khan) production ethics are of a very high standard,” Gulshan states. Having played the bad man over countless films and years, the actor has no regrets. “I chose to create a brand and maximise on it. This, in spite of being an M.Com from the very prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi,” he informs, adding, ‘And right now, I’m at the most interesting phase of my career. I’m being offered roles that need me to perform and I feel I still have years of acting left.”