Actor Karanvir Bohra often loved for his portrayal of negative characters on-screen, interacts with The Pioneer over a quick fun chat sharing his kick for these characters, his dream projects and bringing his real side out through reality shows
Tejal Sinha
It’s no easy feat to portray negative characters, especially in Television shows, demanding the actor to delve much deeper into the dark and twisted psyche of the character. It’s important to strike a balance between portraying the persona convincingly and getting associated with their villainy emotions too. Talking of villainous characters, one such actor that certainly strikes our minds is none other than Karanvir Bohra. To date remembered for his portrayal of Viraj Dobriyal in Dil Se Di Dua… Saubhagyavati Bhava, there’s a different perspective that he has when it comes to these characters.
Be it Prem Yudi in Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kabir from Just Mohabbat, Dhruv from Shararat, Rocky of Naagin and Bhavar Patil of Ghum Hai Kisike Pyaar Main, there’s always a kick that he makes sure to bring on-screen. “I’ve done a lot of diverse characters,” begins the Kismat Konnection star in a quick telepathic chat with The Pioneer. “I choose characters that are character-driven because that brings meat to any kind of role. If there’s substance in my role then I can add my nuances and bites.”
Always on the verge of bringing his character to life, he’s been one of those actors who gives it all to the character.
Throughout his journey, for him it’s never been about struggles rather excitement. “I have given so many auditions for ads, tv, movies and every audition I have been excited, the next audition I have been even more excited and give my best. It’s always been like what next can I do. Even to date, I am as excited as taking a boy to a toy shop that’s how excited I am to get my roles.”
Not long ago, he was seen playing the character of a police inspector Bhanwar Patil and to him, it was a ‘dream come true’ role to play a cop on-screen.
“Donning the role of an inspector was really special for me, because it was the first time that I played a cop. I’ve been wanting to play a police officer. I’ve always been a true Amitabh Bachchan fan. Watching him in Zanjeer, as he walks in as a police officer that really inspired me. When I got this opportunity, I was all in. He’s a Marathi cop so I had to really work on the nuances, the look and everything. By God’s grace, it worked out really well so I was really happy that the first role as a cop, for me it was successful,” shares the Shararat actor, who is thrilled with how the show has fared. “All of us had put in our hardwork and the best of efforts to make the show number one. I really want to thank the producers, cast and crew for being with me and believing in me. I’m certainly going to miss the show but I had a really amazing time.”
A negative character, yet again in the show, there’s a different perception that he has when it comes to playing characters with gray shades. And the Qubool hai actor couldn’t agree much as he shares, “I am known for the characters I play and most of the times, I have plumped for gray shaded characters. There’s a reason I do that; you get to play layered emotions with these kind of characters. I believe that all of us have a gray shaded character in us. We just keep it underwraps. But what if these characters and gray shaded characters you could just bring that out in the open. I really enjoy them as it gives a lot of meat. In TV, you don’t get to play these kind of roles and men, especially don’t have these kind of roles. Web has a lot of these kind of roles and shades. Gone are the days when you just had hero, heroine and a villain. Even the protagonist has gray shaded characters so Im lucky to be in that space.”
When we talk of negative characters and his desire to showcase the best of his prowess, he also recalls of the time when he approached Deepika Padukone for the anti-hero character opposite Ranveer Singh in Don 3. He believes that there is no shame for an actor to approach people for work. “It’s a dream for me to be known as the best anti-hero, the best villain this country has ever seen and what better than being an anti-hero or the villain in this iconic movie Don. There’s no shame in the game. I will always approach people, producers from our industry or from any other industry for that matter. It is our job as an actor, we should approach them and not just expect that people will come up to you.”
The Bigg Boss 11 fame also believes that we all as a human being, good or bad have a devil and angel within us and we all fight with it every day life on who should win. Characters like Viraj, and with that of Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, the creator made the devil within you really stronger so that came out and thats what people connected.
However, on the contrary, though the image of his negative characters haven’t really bothered him, but he shares, “The reason I did Lock Upp or Bigg Boss was not for my career. My career was and is going good by god’s grace. The reason I did these shows was that I wanted a change of my image. My image after Saubhagyavati Bhava was of Viraj Dobriyal. ‘Karan was AKA Viraj Dobriyal’. I wanted to shed that image and Bigg Boss really helped me, Khatron Ke Khiladi and Jhalak for that matter helped people see me of who is Karanvir Bohra in real-life; my human side, my family side and loving side.”
On the concluding note, also a father of three beautiful daughters, he opens up saying, “Days are over when people wanted boys first to take their lineage forward. Now if you see women don’t drop their second name, they don’t take their husband’s second name or if they take it, they keep there’s also. It’s not about having a boy anymore but having a child firstly, secondly having a healthy child and thirdly bringing love and harmony in the house with the family. I’m so happy with my three daughters. I was never keen or had kids because we had another boy and that’s what people think. We just wanted to have children and we are happy parents of three beautiful daughters. For me they are holy trinity; ‘Durga’, ‘Lakshmi’ and ‘Saraswati’. What more can I ask for.”
