Actor Purab Kohli is a dedicated actor who was recently seen in Blind. In an exclusive conversation with the actor, we heard so many yarns about his cinematic existence and more.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
Experimental, transgressive masterpieces — that’s how we would like to construe most of Purab Kohli’s work. If you have ever obsessively followed the career of this actor, you’ll be a fan of his cinema. Empirical observation: it’s less about liking certain movies than absolute dedication to film as a medium, and he has a refusal to bow to the expectations of the major studios. In an exclusive conversation with the actor, we heard so many yarns about his cinematic existence and more.
He shared, “My state of mind at the moment is very serene; I am in the middle of a vacation with my beautiful kids and family. I have just woken up early in the morning to talk to you, and the mornings here are so pristine. Definitely, the reviews of Blind are very frustrating to read. As actors, we always want our audiences to appreciate our work. I watched the original, and whenever you are making a remake, you are judged on the basis of that. So, we were obviously disappointed in comparison with how well it did in the Korean market. Maybe it was a subject not so suited for our markets. Anyway, it wasn’t a commercial release, so it’s okay.”
He started his career with television shows and earned recognition through video jockeying, but what were his moments of bulldozing? Going back to 1998, he reminisced, “I was travelling and holidaying through channel V in those days — I was offered travel shows most of the time. Life was very encouraging. But as a VJ, I was working seven days a week, although it was a lot of fun work. When I decided to be an actor, that’s when the pressure started to build. There was a stereotype: if you are a VJ, the cinema doesn’t want to touch you for some reason! The impression changed very slowly in the industry; it was getting difficult for us. Changing images is always hard! When Rock On was released, everything changed for me.”
The Out of Love fame continued, “The OTT space started for me long back in the year 2014 when there was no advent of it like this. I didn’t even know what Netflix was! I had shot for a show overseas, and Netflix hadn’t come to our country back then. So once upon a time, I was in London at a restaurant, and I could see people talking about me across the table. I was in astonishment—why are foreigners chatting about me? After a good ten minutes, the waiter comes up to me and asks, Are you so and so from the Netflix show? and I eagerly responded, Yes, it’s me! Clearly, my show did well internationally. I borrowed my now-wife and then-girlfriend’s Netflix account and watched my own show after six months of its release in awe. Excellently, I was a part of the first-ever web series made in our country, then!”
Something very interesting that has come up during our research is that Purab’s father was a film producer once. So, we were curious about the amount of business input he has in the actor’s life while choosing scripts and he told us, “He comes from a film family. He hasn’t made a film for many years now, so he’s out of the business! But he has really good sensibilities for cinema and acting. He’s very critical of my work! He’s one of the first to watch most of my releases. I have been a part of many of my film choices, and he’s not happy with them (and he laughs out loud). His understanding of cinema is very different from mine! He comes from a school of single-screen theatres. I don’t see myself in those films! I started my career with the birth of multiplex audiences and niche audiences.”
The first few days are the hardest to connect with your co-stars — at least he believes so. Many times, the producers don’t give them an opportunity to meet their co-stars! So acting is a “game” — two actors are put into a room and are made to react together. He has worked with both seasoned professionals and newcomers. “The energy of the whole crew also matters to me. Now that studios have come in, the whole ballgame has changed, but I can remember working with production houses where the scripts came early in the morning. It wasn’t that bad because it was full of creativity and evolution. This used to be our old-school formula—tuning in right on the sets! Sometimes, the scenes came crashing down also, and then we left it in the hands of the editor (he laughed again),” added the Prisoners of War fame.
Finally, where does he position himself in the industry? Does he or does he not? Let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth himself: “I am away from the paparazzi because I don’t live in the country anymore. My lifestyle doesn’t allow me to do it! I don’t want my films to drive my personal life now. How I choose to live it is so personal to me! I think if I am doing back-to-back projects, there is no need for me to be spotted at airports. There’s enough attention, then. Life’s been a bit busy, traversing via Dehradun, Goa, and London. My kids are in school now and often have to work according to their holiday plans. I am in that phase of my life now! Even my work life depends on them. That’s how I juggle my dates. That’s why we are driving to Norway right now and having our cozy time. (Are we? Purab asks his daughter, who was right there nodding her head into a yes in the middle of this telephone interview).”
