With Karan Kapadia playing a suicide bomber in his debut film, we look at some actors who started their careers with unconventional roles
One might believe that Aamir Khan began his career with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and broke every teenage girl’s heart when he tragically died at the end in the romantic drama. However, few people remember that he actually kicked off his acting career as an adult with the experimental Holi (1984). The Ketan Mehta directorial about student rebellion may not have been the ideal launch vehicle for a newcomer, but it showed that the actor was willing to take the path less trodden with a project that was neither a love story nor a family drama.
Now, going by the trailer of Dimple Kapadia’s nephew Karan Kapadia’s Blank, which releases on May 3, in which the latter plays a suicide bomber who claims to have no memories post an accident, it’s evident that this newcomer, too, isn’t averse to taking risks. Over the years, while many heroes have played it safe, there are some fearless ones who have experimented with genres or roles and come out as winners. Here’s a look at a few who dared...
1. Ayushmann Khurrana
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Seven years ago, Ayushmann Khurrana made his debut in a movie and with a role that the audience couldn’t ignore. In and as Vicky Donor, the first-time actor played a guy who becomes a sperm donor. The Shoojit Sircar film tackled this hitherto-unheard of subject for the first time on the big screen. The former VJ, who is also a singer, played Vicky with such a guy-next-door charm that people in the audience easily warmed up to him. Since then, the multi-faceted artiste has followed it up with many quirky subjects.
2. Vicky Kaushal
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Action director Sham Kaushal’s son could have made his debut with a mainstream movie with all the song and dance, but Vicky chose the independent drama Masaan (2015). He played a man belonging to the Dom community, carrying out cremation duties on the ghats of Varanasi — nothing could be farther from a big-ticket blockbuster. Vicky captured the innocence of first love and the grief of losing a loved one with such vulnerability that almost seven-eight films later, it still remains one of his most brilliant acts.
3. Rajkummar Rao
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The National Award winner is a much-in-demand actor now but a couple of years ago, Rajkummar Rao was just another struggling artiste giving auditions and hoping for a break. And although he had a brief appearance in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Rann (2010), it was Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010 that was the break he was hoping for. Playing a man who makes a sex tape in order to pay off his debts, Rajkummar was not exactly a ‘hero’ in his first film. But it made no difference to the audience or critics who saw the makings of a fine actor in him. He continued with a series of films that tackled lesser-known subjects and also gave him scope to showcase his acting chops.
4. Sushant Singh Rajput
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Sushant Singh Rajput was already a household name having played the role of Manav in the popular soap Pavitra Rishta (2009-2014). The actor could have easily carried forward his romantic image with him to the big screen as well, but it turned out, that he didn’t have any love interest opposite him in his first film at all!
Directed by Abhishek Kapoor, Kai Po Che! (2013) was a buddy film set against the backdrop of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and Godhra train burning. The film was a critical as well as commercial success and established Sushant as someone to watch out for. The actor followed it up with several out-of-the-box movies.
5. Ishaan Khatter
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His elder brother Shahid Kapoor made his debut with the love triangle Ishq Vishq (2003), but Ishaan Khatter chose to foray into the world of cinema with award-winning Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s Beyond The Clouds (2017). Playing a street hustler and a drug dealer in his first film certainly was a brave choice, but one that got the critics to sit up and take notice of the curly-haired lad. The 23-year-old then decided to make a splash in Bollywood with Dhadak (2018), which was a conventional poor boy-meets-rich girl-love story. Now, the audience is curious to know what his next film will be.
