Gulshan Devaiah: I Was More Nervous To Do 'Duranga 2' But Motivated By The Fact That Rohan Sippy Is The Director

Gulshan Devaiah is one of those actors who can play a variety of roles with ease. Devaiah has received lots of appreciation for his stellar performances in films like 'Shaitan', 'Hunterrr', 'Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota', and 'Badhaai Do' among others. He also made his foray into OTT space and wowed the audiences with his acting in shows like 'Ghost Stories', 'Unpaused' and others. This year Devaiah had two major releases on OTT- 'Guns And Gulaabs' and 'Dahaad'. Third is on the way- 'Duranga 2' that is all set to premiere on Zee5 on October 24. Currently, he is on a roll with back-to-back releases.

Talking about his role in 'Duranga', Gulshan is playing two personalities- Sammit Patel and Abhishek Banne. One is a doting husband and father and the other one is a suspected serial killer. Needless to say, he pulled off both with elan. 

Ahead of the release of 'Duranga 2', Garima Das of Outlook India had a conversation with Gulshan where he spoke about the show, his process, preparations for the characters and a lot more. 

Do you feel this is currently the best phase of your career or it is yet to come?

I think that I am one of those people who always believe my best is always ahead of me. This is a good phase of my career because starting with Duranga which was a hit then there was Dahaad which was a hit and then Guns And Gulaabs was also a hit. So, I've had three hits. That way it's a good phase and this is my first season ever in my life. None of the other shows have had season two. This is the first time I'm going into season two. So yeah when you look at it that way uh from perception-wise, then it's a really good phase but I've I think philosophically my inclination is to always think that my best is always ahead of me and that motivates me and so I don't want to like you know rest on my laurels and enjoy success. You should always enjoy it but not too much. You shouldn't feel that 'oh I have done it I have achieved everything'. Better things are always ahead of us.

'Duranga' shows the two sides of you. So, was there any challenge while dabbling between two personalities?

Not really. We had enough time to prepare and I had enough time to prepare for season one yeah and I got to spend a lot of time with both the directors Pradeep (Sarkar) and Aijaz (Khan). Also, Goldie (Behl) was creatively involved in the process and a lot of ideas were shared and we did some rehearsals and Drashti (Dhami) was also available. A lot of the actors were available so we would like to do the scenes we would rehearse the scenes or workshop the scenes. So, there was a sufficient amount of time to prepare for the character so by the time we got to set I think like I was very comfortable and confident.

In fact, I was more nervous doing season two because you've already prepared for the character and you know what's coming like even when shooting season one we knew what's going to happen in season two because it was already planned but the scripts were not ready but the outline we knew what's happening. But the basic preparation the foundation is always there but before season two I was a little nervous that I don't want to get complacent and then like do a shit job or like do a half act but fortunately, I was also motivated by the fact that Rohan Sippy is the director. I worked with him before and really liked him so it was you know the second time after 13 years we worked together again. So, that also kind of you know helped me pull up my socks. 

How did you prepare for both your characters?

A lot of it is imagination. A lot of it is you read you read the script, you read the scenes or you listen to what the director's vision is or what the writer has to say and then I imagine like I use a lot of the work through imagination. Sometimes it's visual, sometimes I get an idea from another performance or a picture, piece of music or it could be anything but most of the time I try and imagine what this person would be like, why this person the way it is and then I try it out and many times I'm given the opportunity to actually do rehearsals. So, I really like the process of before going on set to try out all the ideas and many directors these days give that leeway. With Duranga season one we had four-five days of readings and rehearsals where we would actually do some key scenes. The actor playing the younger version of me I got him to do older version scenes. I did his scenes and we looked at each other and some of the mannerisms like doing that or keeping my hands behind my back. I gave him some of my mannerisms and some of my ideas and I took some of his ideas.

I'm a big fan of repetition. So, if you have enough time where you can do rehearsals it's really valuable and it really helps you maintain composure and calmness when you're actually shooting. When you are filming it should only be about like understanding your mark. It's very technical because there are cameras set up, these are the angles, this is the space, this is how you interact with the space. These are your marks so it's very technical. So, I shouldn't have to find my character while I'm filming. Sometimes it happens some ideas will come up, and sometimes you don't have enough time so you have to try out those ideas on set but in the case of Duranga, we had a lot of time to prepare.

You are not the kind of actor who improvises on set right?

I do. Improvisation also comes from preparation like you have once laid the foundation, the foundation is strong then you can act on impulse. Improvisation happens on impulse like somebody did something or you see an object or something you interact differently with that space with an object with a person or your response is a little different from what is written. So, these are all on impulse. You can access your impulse if you're absolutely composed and calm and confident of who you play and that requires whatever preparation you have to do. If you're well prepared then your mind can act on impulse.

Amit Sadh's character seems to be coming out of the coma in Season 2 of 'Duranga'. Any face-off or something we can witness?

If he's coming out of the coma that should be really important otherwise why even show it. You'll see a lot more of him in season two and of course, there's a mystery around what he's up to and that's why I think season two will be interesting as to how he impacts the lives of Abhishek and Ira and their family and his own family too.