Actor Gulshan Devaiah, known for his dynamic performances in web shows and films, has captivated audiences with his latest role in Bad Cop. Portraying a double role, one as a police officer, the actor has brought his trademark intensity and depth to the screen. In an exclusive interview with The Free Press Journal, Gulshan opens up about his characters and what sets Bad Cop apart from other cop dramas. He also revealed what changes he would like to see in the film industry, challenges of being in the public eye, and more.
Opening up about portraying a police officer convincingly, Gulshan says, "This world has a certain screen logic. It's not a realistic portrayal of a cop. It's a very filmy, masala interpretation of what a cop is. No cop in their sane mind would go on their own to catch a bad guy as there are certain procedures they need to follow. But filmy cops are like that, woh aise hi nikal jaate hai bandook leke. So it's a filmy interpretation of the crime world. I had fun interpreting that."
Revealing how he got into the mindset of his characters, Karan and Arjun, Gulshan shared, "I had enough time to mentally prepare myself and create who Karan and Arjun are in my imagination. Aditya Datt (director) also had a fair idea how he looks at these characters. When you have enough time to prepare, then, on the sets, I'm not confused about what I'm doing."
Gulshan was thrilled to play a double role in the show. Gushing about his initial reaction upon getting the opportunity, Gulshan said, "This is a different kind of a double role with different sensibility. I worked with Aditya before on Commando 3 and I had an idea about what his approach will be towards this story and the characters. There are more than one way of interpreting a certain character. Here, I got an opportunity to have a different approach to the twins and also play a different sort of a cop. I thought it was a great idea and I'm glad this came to me."
The actor said what he didn't enjoy during the shoot of Bad Cop was that he had to run a lot and that it was 'physically challenging' for him.
The series deals with themes of law and crime, however, Gulshan believes Bad Cop is different from other cop dramas. "Everybody can make tea with the same ingredients but everybody's tea will taste different because it depends on how you make it. A lot of ingredients in our show are the same. The device of mistake and identity, twin brothers, even the device of cops having personal issues have been used many times before. Cars will fly, cops will go behind villains to catch them, people have done all this before. So the ingredients are the same but how we put everything together will ultimately determine what's fresh about it," he explained.
Bad Cop stars Harleen Sethi as a cop and Anurag Kashyap as a gangster. Gulshan believes that the casting of the show is eccentric. "I'm an unconventional actor. None of us have a vast experience or a long career in doing massy, commercial entertainment. Harleen was just fresh out of Kohrra. Although I have done mass entertainers, that's not really a majority of my films. Sometimes these choices can be entertaining. If we'll be able to get that from the show, I'll be quite satisfied," Gulshan said.
Gulshan, who has been a part of Bollywood for nearly 15 years, further mentioned what changes he would like to see in the industry. He stated, "Social changes. The hierarchy system states that certain job profiles are higher than the others. I would really like that to disappear. There's this imaginary hierarchy and it seeps into our profession also. I think it should go."
On a concluding note, the actor reveals how he handles the pressures and challenges that come with being in the public eye. "I used to suffer unnecessarily in my imagination so things seemed a lot worse than they were in reality. I trained myself not to do that. There's a sense of responsibility I'm willing to take because I'm in the eye of the public. I'm responsible with what I say and what I do. But I'm not willing to take the pressure because it's not fun," he signed off.
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