There was a time, Tusshar Kapoor remembers, when he wasn’t taken seriously an as actor. While he was working hard, the best he could, critics were far from pleased. Rajkumar Santoshi’s ‘Khakee’ in 2004, in which he essayed an upright cop, radically changed the way people perceived this star son.
This was followed by the ‘Golmaal’ series and more recently, ‘Shor in the City’, which made most of us sit and take note of Tusshar. The industry reacted positively to ‘Shor’ with off-beat directors like Anurag Kashyap, Madhur Bhandakar and Ashutosh Gowariker paying rich compliments to the film and its performances.
“The ‘Golmaal’ series and ‘Shor in the City’ gave me a new-found confidence. Earlier, I was judged harshly maybe because I am Jeetendra’s son and therefore the expectation was that much more. Now, I don’t get bogged down by pressure. I enjoy being in front of the camera,” says Tusshar.
He is hoping that his new film, ‘The Dirty Picture’, will be another “feather in his cap,” as he puts it. What appealed to him about his character Ramakant was that he’s the only one of the many lovers of Silk Smitha (played by Vidya Balan) who understands her from the humane point of view. Ramakant is a writer who rediscovers his talent and evolves after falling in love with Smitha.
“He becomes successful only after being with Silk Smitha. He wants to have some kind of a future with her.”
Unlike the film, Tusshar is yet to find true love in real life. “I am a big believer in love, especially in marriage and steady relationships. But with love, you can’t predict what will happen.”
His sister, Ekta, is his confidante and the first one to know what happens in his life. Tusshar’s closeness with her has led to allegations that Ekta designs projects to fit him. “It’s wrong to say that I am in ‘The Dirty Picture’ because it is our home production. I can’t change the fact that she’s my sister. I wasn’t there in ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai’. If that were the case, I would be in every Ekta Kapoor film in a leading role.”
The actor admits that he took years to emerge out of his father’s shadow. “My sister and dad are achievers. Both are my inspiration but I never took advantage of their name. I took my own decisions. Yet every time I had a movie coming up, I was expected to prove myself. There was a frustrating period when some of my films didn’t do well. Today, I am beyond those days and there’s respect for what I do. It took me 10 years and then it finally hit me that actors have to prove themselves every Friday,” he says, adding, “I made mistakes by doing all sorts of films without thinking what I was up to, but a wise person learns from the past.”
Of all his forthcoming projects, if there’s any the audience is most looking forward to, it is ‘Golmaal 4’. Tusshar’s role of a mute has been much loved. He laughs at the mention of the goofy Lucky.
“Everywhere I go people ask me about ‘Golmaal’,” he says, adding, “While doing the first ‘Golmaal’, I never knew this character would be such a big hit. It only strengthened my belief in the fact that if you make a film good, it works; if you write a good character and if the actor performs it honestly, it is bound to be liked.