In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the seasoned actor spoke about his long association with Anubhav Sinha, reuniting with him for this film, and much more
Kumud Mishra has been a part of the Hindi film industry for over three decades. His breakout role in Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar is for the ages. Over the years, the versatile performer has acted in films like Rustom, Article 15, Mulk, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, and is now set to be seen in Anubhav Sinha’s ASSI. It’s a film that chronicles the horror of rape and its traumatic aftermath.
It’s a film that’s about to release in cinemas on February 20 and also stars
Taapsee Pannu and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the seasoned actor spoke about his long association with Anubhav Sinha, reuniting with him for this film, and much more.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
Before we talk about ASSI, please talk about your association and friendship with Anubhav Sinha.
It has been a couple of years now. He called me for a film that he was making. He gave me the script and it was a beautiful one. That was the first time that we were meeting each other. I knew him and I think he also knew who I was. Unfortunately, the film never got made. He asked me to choose a character, and this was the first time this was happening with me. All the other major characters were vacant. I chose a small character to play and he was surprised. But I knew that character was interesting. It’s from that point where we began. He then called me for Mulk.
The film was shot and everything was as ready for release, but I turned it down. But he was stubborn. My reference for that character was Saurabh Shukla who delivered a beautiful performance in Jolly LLB. He just showed me the trailer of Mulk and I really liked it. I first wanted to read the script and said no initially. We had a discussion and he convinced me. We worked on that role and the journey began.
What can we expect from
ASSI. What’s the world you both have created?
I find it odd to say that it’s a relevant film. After so many years and eons, we are still talking about this issue that we call rape. We are now used to such brutal and bone chilling violence. It’s a film that also talks about how people get affected due to their relationships. This is one of Anubhav Sinha’s finest films. It’s on the lines of Mulk, Article 15, Thappad.
What do you have to say about the transition that we have seen in the filmmaker in him?
I haven’t seen too many of his previous movies so I may not be able to talk about his transition. I’ve heard of his movies though. I’ve seen a couple of his music videos. I’ve seen Ra.One in bits and pieces. I know the filmmaker that we see now. I had heard of him because he was also from New Delhi. We all had come from the same space and had a theatre background. My memory is terrible. (Smiles)
What do you have to say about your transition as an actor in these 30 years since you have been working?
It’s still a journey for me. You start everything with the sense of doubt. If we talk about Anubhav’s films, every time he gets a character for me, I always feel that it is completely different from my real life personally. For example, Thappad. On the outside, he’s a good father. But it was the toughest character to play because I didn’t know where to place him and how to immerse myself. I was really stressed about what was going to happen. But the most beautiful thing about him is that he involves the entire team during the making.
I went completely quiet, and he felt that I was a little disinterested to play the part. But when I began doing scenes with Ratna Pathak Shah, only then I was able to discover the sur of the character. Sometimes, you struggle till the last moment. When you come out of your comfort zone, these things happen. It was a character that was completely out of my comfort zone. Uska sur pakadna bhi mushkil tha. I’ve always said you attack the substance and not the length of the character.
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