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Stars in his eyes
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Bangalore-based actor Gulshan Devaiah, who plays KC in ‘Shaitan', on his struggle to make it to Bollywood
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Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.
ROMANCING THE CAMERA Gulshan Devaiah
Meet Gulshan Devaiah, who plays KC in the film “Shaitan”. A Bangalorean who's parents indulged in theatre, music and art, he always dreamt of being on film posters. “A Tamil movie my mother was offered is my remotest connection to the film industry. I always knew I wanted to be an actor, but I never knew when or how. When I started doing theatre I realised that it was a lot more than just billboard dreams,” says Gulshan.After finishing his degree from NIFT, Gulshan worked in the day as a fashion consultant and reserved his evenings for rehearsals. “I heard that Rajat Kapoor was starting work on ‘Hamlet – The Clown Prince', and I just showed up in Mumbai on the day he was starting rehearsals. And just like that, without any audition he gave me a role, which I lost later because he was not impressed,” recalls Gulshan, who then started doing lights for plays and filling in for actors. From three years of struggle to signing three films, Gulshan definitely has a lot to celebrate. “I have been incredibly lucky. Every actor goes through the process of rejection, but in three years I have done three films with three very good and very different film makers. And the films and my work have been appreciated. Now I have to make the right choices, if I want longevity in the business. I must pay attention to that.”
Gulshan's first film was Anurag Kashyap's “That Girl In Yellow Boots”, which is going to be his third release, but he arrived with his role as a drug peddlar in “Dum Maro Dum”. “My first attempt in films was in 2002 with a film called ‘Bride Wanted', which thankfully never saw the light of day. I hated every minute of it. But when I did ‘That Girl In Yellow Boots' the whole process and the energy was different,” he says.
“I am now comfortable being in the industry. And it feels great when I meet people whose work I have admired. Like the time I met Ramesh Sippy. He told me that he liked my work in ‘Dum Maro Dum' and all I could think of was that this man made ‘Sholay'. I was dumbstruck.” And for him there is no battle between theatre and cinema. “I definitely love cinema more than theatre. I enjoy the process of cinema more and apply myself much better there. But I learnt the craft in theatre. So it will always be special.”
Gulshan is currently working on the play ‘The Real Inspector Hound' in Bengaluru and is waiting to get back to Mumbai and face the camera again.
CATHERINE RHEA ROY
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