Sushant Singh Rajput is on the brink of the release of his latest film, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy. Bollywood Hungama’s Subhash K Jha chats with the star about his career, the movie and perception that fame is changing him…
There is a lot of talk in the film industry about how much you’ve changed with your success. Do you feel you’ve changed much?
I don’t think I have changed. Maybe the people around me have begun to observe me much more closely now than they did before. I am not blaming anyone, but there are people who expect a newcomer to follow a certain protocol. I never followed that protocol even when I was in the television industry. I won’t follow it now. I am very spontaneous in my behaviour, to the point of being considered reckless. I am reckless, yes, but not thoughtless. I can focus only on one issue or person at a time. Even my girlfriend has a problem with this. But I can’t help it. That’s the way I am.
Apparently you’ve been turning down a lot of roles?
Very often when I know a narration is going wrong I still sit through it politely. That gets me into trouble. Instead of saying “no” to scripts that I don’t like I begin to avoid the producers. Then they feel I am high-handed.
Your friends say you don’t take their calls.
Who are these friends? I am very happy where I am. I don’t see myself changing. It’s the attitude of people that has changed. When I switched from television to cinema everyone would say I think of myself as another Shah Rukh Khan. Now, after I’ve done movies, the same people say they think I am another Shah Rukh Khan. So the perception about me has changed. Now they’re saying I do very different kinds of characters, so I don’t fit in as a typical hero.
How was it working with Dibakar Bannerjee on Detective Byomkesh Bakshy?
It was one more learning experience for me. Dibakar trusted me completely. We had done workshops before we started shooting. So I knew exactly what he wanted me to do, and how to go about it. We had a lot of room for experimentation and I think I’ve grown as an actor. But if you ask what I think of my performance, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.
Why not?
For the first time I didn’t check myself on the monitor after every shot. That was a conscious decision. I looked, talked and behaved very differently from the way I am in real life. If I had seen myself on the monitor I’d have become very self-conscious and it would have been difficult for me to do the next shot. I didn’t want a visual self-reference as that would have distracted me from performing.
How difficult was it to transform from a 2014 dude to a 1940s Bhadra-lok?
It wasn’t difficult. It was interesting. Dibakar gave me lots of tips and reference points. Besides, I had a whole team looking after my clothes, makeup, hair etc. They made sure I looked the part. I also saw lots of films from the 1940s and 1950s. How they walked, talked, the way they did this and that, these were details I had to understand on my own. I had to be convinced that I had to behave in a particular way.
Why have all your film roles so far been so unconventional?
An actor has to remember the primary reason why he chose the profession. If every role that I do doesn’t challenge me, then what is the point of being an actor? Every character I’ve chosen has made me evolve as an actor. And I am lucky that my directors have shown so much faith in my abilities. There is always that sense of exploration and excitement. I am not bothered with whether my characters are conventional or not. Because I am not in this for the designer labels and the autographs. I don’t even want to go there. I am not saying that those who crave conventional stardom are wrong in their aspirations. But that’s not what I want. – bollywoodhungama.com