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| Edited By: Deepali Singh |Source: DNA |Updated: Jun 21, 2018, 03:10 AM IST
It was with Ship of Theseus, a movie Neeraj Kabi appeared in 15 years after his debut film, The Last Vision, that made people sit up and take notice of him. It also won him a couple of Best Actor awards for his portrayal of an ailing monk. With each movie he did, including Talvar and The Hungry, the audience got to see different shades of this talented actor. He is now gearing up for his debut in the digital space with Sacred Games. Some of his other films in the pipeline include In The Shadows, a movie that is doing the rounds of the festival circuit in which he plays a butcher, The Field which is in post-production, Navdeep Singh’s upcoming film and another with Arjun Rampal. Neeraj tells us more about his process of choosing a role and exploring other genres...
I had asked Vikramaditya (Motwane) for a lot of material, which they sent on my character. It’s based on a novel by the same name, so I wanted more information — not the novel itself — but portions of the book from where certain elements have been inspired. That helped me process this character the way I wanted to. Normally, I take a lot of written material for myself and then there is experiential material, which is where I go and experience various elements of the character. I’m playing DCP Parulkar and for the younger and older roles, the background given to me from the books was more than enough for me. I had done a lot of research on the life of a cop for a film I had done called Monsoon Shootout, so I didn’t have to do that again.
When I choose a role, it must, first, be an integral part of the film because I give a lot to preparing for a role and if I’m not there as an integral element of what the film is trying to say, then I normally don’t say yes to that. Sometimes, the roles are not that big, but the production house is good, the director is interesting and the team behind it is highly qualified. So I say yes to those things as well, as it would be a lovely learning and sharing session for me. I have to be careful with my choices because I have entered the industry really late. Had I been about 25 years of age, then I wouldn’t have chosen the way I’m choosing. I wouldn’t have thought so much. Right now, if I make the wrong choices, then I will be labelled. Every choice I’m making now is so that I can keep working for the next 30-40 years in this industry. These are not creative choices. These choices are to stay in the business, for many years to come. I have taken upon a challenge to make sure I’m doing a whole range of work which is not limited to me doing just one kind of thing.
I’ve always looked towards mainstream. Many offers have come but they’ve been the wrong kind of offers. They are not the right business decisions for me to take. If I take them up, then I will cease to get more work in the next 10-15 years. But I’m very keen to work with directors such as Imtiaz Ali, Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Abhishek Chaubey, Anurag Kashyap and Abhishek Kapoor.
I’ve done comedy on stage, in fact it is one of my strong points. I have already done a love story with Shefali Shah called Once Again. The film is ready. Unfortunately, we are still struggling to get it out in the theatres. It’s a beautiful, middle-aged romance, something I hadn’t explored till now. I’m looking forward to many light-hearted roles as well.
