‘Anurag Kashyap has integrity’

He played Dilip Singh, the meek protagonist who gets self destructive, in Anurag Kashyap’s Gulaal. Now, Raj Singh Chaudhary, who is also the writer of the film, is glad that it finally saw the light of day.

“I had shot 80 per cent of Gulaal and I got signed up for three films after film-makers saw the rushes of this film. So I was desperate for its release,” says Raj.

He feels this was the best time for the film to release. He says, “Now, the audience has become more receptive to films that are made differently. It was a futuristic story when I had written it.”

Raj had penned the story that was then developed by Anurag who was adamant that Raj be cast in the role of the protagonist. “Anurag could have cast anyone but he didn’t. He is someone who stands by his conviction and his actors. He has integrity,” says Raj.

Raj now has three films — Manmohan Shetty’s Mehmanji and Waiting Room, and Manish Premnath’s Meridian — in his kitty. But he never set out to be an actor. He was a software engineer in Bangalore who modelled for extra money. He was a finalist at Graviera Mr India and Gladrags Model Hunt. He came to Mumbai because he got cast in a film which never took off. So is he out to prove that models can act?

“It has a lot to do with your director. If you see Jesse Randhawa in Gulaal, you won’t think of her as a model. Madhur Bhandarkar too got the best out of Mugdha Godse. So if a person has grasping power for acting then he can be a good actor,” he ends.