When you shoot a lovemaking scene all day, it gets really boring: Gulshan Devaiah

Andheri spares no one. To add to the misery, there was the Mumbai heat. When I finally reached actor Gulshan Devaiah’s Versova flat, he and Ira, his cat who he cannot stop raving about, welcome me with broad smiles.

It’s hard not to notice the five newly born kittens lazing around the sofa, while mother Ira was being pampered by Gulshan. Hardcover volumes of Frank Miller’s Sin City are stacked by the window sill, as the apartment speaks of the outspoken personality occupying it.

Over ghee-laden motichoor laddoos from Kanpur and Cranberry juice, Gulshan and his Greek wife Kallirroi tell DNA about Hate Story, acting, theatre, cats and a lot more.

You like cats?
Oh yes! When I was younger, I thought I was a dog person. But now I realise I’m a cat person. I like dogs too. I think our lifestyles do not really support a dog’s lifestyle, because a dog needs to be taken care of, they need to be walked around and all that. Cats don’t need much, they’re self-reliant, clean, potty-trained. (Goes on to introduce the kittens, who will be up for adoption in a week or two)

Let’s talk about Hate Story.
Hate Story is an interesting movie. I never really imagined I would do something like this. Having said that, I had no preconceived notion that these are the kind of films I’m going to do. I got a call from Vivek (Agnihotri, director of Hate Story) and went and met him. He gave me a narration and I instinctively said yes, because I connected with the role. I thought I could walk a new path with this one. I didn’t know how I was going to go about it but that’s what makes it even more interesting.

It was interesting enough for me to push myself and find a way, that I could apply myself as an actor in a film like this. I’m used to a more organic style of working, with Anurag (Kashyap), Bejoy (Nambiar) or with Vasan Bala with whom I’ve done another film. So, to transcend myself from that into this was interesting and it was a learning process. Director Vivek Agnihotri with writer Rohit Malhotra have done really well. Of course, Paoli (Dam) too. We had lot of fun while working.

What exactly did they tell you then, as now it’s being promoted as a ‘first of its kind erotic thriller’?
They didn’t exactly say one of a kind, but Vivek said this genre is not properly explored, as in, people have made films, but they don’t properly pitch it as an erotic trailer. He said we will be unabashed about it, because it is an erotic film and we will slot it in the genre. He was very clear with his actors also. He said we want you to be brave and courageous enough, because we have to make it look believable, although we cannot show everything we shoot. When the audience is watching they should feel that two people are making love. Vivek also known for his aesthetic way of shooting scenes would be shot, the visuals...

So how ‘brave and courageous’ were you? 
Pretty brave and courageous! I was very anxious few days before we got to shoot those bits. I didn’t know how to go about it, but Paoli is extremely professional about it and so was Vivek and others on the set. It was a close set, only people from the camera crew were there. We got along really well. There were some ‘choreographers’ also who were really sweet. They’d come and tell us, ‘You’re making out, you’re making out, you’re making out’, so I’m like ‘You mean I’m having sex with her?’ And they’d go ‘Yeah yeah yeah!’

(Laughs)
It was rather time-consuming and painful because from morning to evening when you’re shooting a love-making scene it gets really boring, trust me!

How much of a help was Paoli?
She’s been in more films, she’s more experienced, so she’s very knowledgeable about the set and what kind of lens they are using... I think they have this culture in Bengal, where they keenly study the lights and where what is coming from. She’d tell me ‘hey you’re in the light, I’m not visible’ and stuff like that. Nikhil Dwivedi and I have seen that side of her…

She was extremely professional about it. I knew of her from her reputation, that she’s very bold, she’s not inhibited. But I think she has a process to it. It’s not like she’s ready to strip in front of everybody. That’s not true. She has a process, she understands what the film is about, what her part is and accordingly I think she approaches the nudity. So I think it’s a little unfair the kind of reputation that she has. She’s a lot more than somebody who is capable of just stripping. But I guess maybe after the film people will realise that.

It’s an obvious question, how did your wife react?
My wife is an actress; she went to two different theatre schools. And we have enough love and trust between us for these silly things not to come in between us. It’s nice to have another creative person in the house because you can bounce off your ideas. She also knows how comfortable I was made to feel by Paoli and the other crew.

Kallirroi: In Europe, it happens all the time. These roles are more common in the West. Being an actress myself I know what all we’re required to do.

Tell me about your role in Hate Story.
I play a young business tycoon, who is extremely ambitious and who has an ego the size of the Everest. Ya, I was going to say erection, but let’s just stick to ego (laugh).

See, how erotic films mess you up completely (laughs).

Siddarth Dharajgir is very rich and powerful businessman in Delhi, he’s well-educated, well-spoken, sharp, very clear in his thoughts. He knows exactly what he wants and what he doesn’t and he’s very polished in his looks, He’s always sharply dressed, like, you can never catch him off-guard, but his ego and his attitude towards success get the better of him. That’s what creates the conflict between him and Kavya (Paoli’s character). He has a tense relationship with her, there’s tension between him and his father... he is not a completely black character.

How much of your theatre background helps you in front of the camera? 
90% of the time my theatre background comes to the rescue. It’s the training ground, it’s where you perfect the craft. When you start working in the theatre, you learn the craft. Application is different in cinema, you just have to control yourself, you have to be extremely relaxed. In theatre if you have any negative energy, it’s okay to push it and use it as projection. In cinema, you have to hold it back and create that tension inside you which will hold it back and will help you give more subtle and layered performances. So 90% of the time when I am in front of the camera, it is because I have been on the stage for 10 years and I have learnt various different things from various people.

You came from Bangalore to Mumbai. How easy or difficult was it to break into Bollywood?
It was really difficult because I didn’t know how to go about it, I had no strategy about who I was going to meet, what auditions I was going give... I knew that I had to make the move, it had taken two years of planning. I had to do a lot of work in Bangalore in order to inflate my bank balance enough so my parents would be achha theek hain, he won’t go there and waste his time or struggle. I didn’t want to burden them. When you have no idea what to do, the struggle is trying to have a proper understanding of how things work here.

Then good fortune came my way and Anurag offered me to be a part of That Girl in Yellow Boots and I was thrilled. Even Dum Maaro Dum was a fantastic opportunity for me, because, according to me I had a terrible audition, but I think Rohan Sippy saw something in me. He said he liked my energy. Even though it was a small part, I had a fantastic time playing it. I worked on it for 15 days, trying to develop a kind of walk, mannerisms and a kind of tonality in terms of speaking, rhythm and all that. I had so much fun and Rohan Sippy allowed that. All this has come a long way in terms of confidence. Going back to your question, it was difficult but once I got my break, I knew what I wanted to do. I knew where I was standing as an actor and I was much more confident of myself than before.

Which actors/directors would you want to work with? 
There are a lot of fantastic actors that I’d like to work with. Irrfan is definitely among them. For that matter even Emraan Hashmi. I think he is a very intelligent actor and capable of far many things than what he has done so far. He’s slowly exploring many zones now.

Among directors, there’s Dibakar Banerjee I’d really love to work with. Sriram Raghavan, Abhinay Deo, it’s an endless list. Then there’s Dilip Kumar, whose craft I started understanding only after I grew up. If he’s still doing films, I’d love to work with him. Of course, Amitabh Bachchan, who’s the big daddy of Hindi cinema. Then Naseeruddin Shah is such a phenomenal actor.

Tell me about Vasan Bala’s film.
That one’s completed. It’s called Halahal. It’s one of those films that takes time to put together. It’s a small, independent film where we all practically worked for free. It’s made on a show-string budget, for the love of cinema and Vasan Bala. I’m very happy with the way it’s turned out. Vasan has worked with Anurag extensively. He has taken Anurag’s way of making films but has made his own way for Halahal. He’s taken it in a direction and method of his own. There are three stories, three protagonists and I play an NCB officer Ranjeet D’souza, who is very successful in his job. But he has a problem communicating with people. He has no friends.

Somewhat like Rajeev Khandelwal’s character in Shaitan?
Nothing like him. Rajeev Khandelwal’s character in Shaitan was a hot-head. He’d throw punches because he was cheesed off at somebody. Ranjeet D’Souza is not like that. He just doesn’t like mingling with people. It’s a much layered character.

You’re on Twitter. How important is social networking in an actor’s life today?
It has become important now, because everything moves so quickly, people have that short memories. It was not like this when I was going up. When you were 12-15 years old, there was just one channel and people remembered people. When Maine Pyaar Kiya released, people talked about it for three-four years. It doesn’t work like that anymore. Until Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, people used to remember these things for a long time. Now, if a thing is really good, people talk about it for a couple of weeks and then it’s out of the window...