Sonam Kapoor and Purab Kohli starrer 'Blind' premiered on Jio Cinema on July 7. Purab plays a serial killer and he is getting positive response for his stellar performance.
Purab Kohli is one of the finest actors we have in the industry. He has shed the image of a 'chocolate' boy by playing diverse roles in shows like 'Out of Love', Typewriter' and 'Criminal Justice' among others. In 'Blind' where he plays the antagonist, Purab steals the show with his stellar performance.
"As an actor, you have to take up challenges and do parts that not every actor would take up," said Purab in an interview with Outlook ahead of the release of 'Blind'. We can say that he has aced his role of a twisted murderer in this Shome Makhija's directorial.
In the same interview, Kohli also spoke about his character, why he had to distance himself from Sonam Kapoor and others while shooting 'Blind' and a lot more.
On his character, Purab said, "It's so different from what I usually do and who I am. He also opens up about his first reaction when he got the script. "The film is a remake of a Korean film and when I saw the film, I did wonder how Shome would want to adapt it and what he would do with it because I read the script almost six months after he first came to me with the film and he told me it's the remake of a Korean film and asked me to watch it. I watched it and was interested and was really keen to see what he would do with the Indian version of it. Six and seven months later, he gave me the script and I really liked it," said the actor.
He added, "For me as an actor when you do something in any industry and I don't think it's not just Indian films or shows that we do nowadays, it is easy something works and you get cast a lot in that space. So, whenever you get an opportunity to jump into something new and portray yourself with something totally different, it is always exciting and so with 'Blind'. I don't think I have ever played such a dark character before. So, it was hard work and it was also dwelling in an area set up frightening and scary within yourself. It was exciting but at the same time it was challenging because especially when you have young children, you wonder whether you really want to play these parts. That thought crosses your mind. But I had to look beyond all of that and saw why it would excite me to play and portray something that is quite dark."
Purab also feels that 'Blind' was an opportunity to portray himself in a very different avatar.
The 'Rock On' actor also said it was quite challenging for him to play such a dark character. "It's a hard character to crack because it's only imagined. You can't really go and meet people in everyday life and chat with serial killers and chat with what they are like. But what you can do is read a lot about them and where the mind works and what makes them do and try and bring it in your own way. It's a very dark space, so there were a lot of challenges going every day for 30-35 days that you were shooting the film to sort of dive into that aspect of the character and empathise with it and that's the hard work because to part a part somewhere in your heart you have to emphasise with the character and feel what the character Is feeling. You are working with dialogues and story in the present time what is happening in the film right now. When it's a protagonist, sometimes it explains but when it's an antagonist it's normally not explained and then the actor requires to bring out that back story when he is performing the part. So, it's a bit tricky and then the shedding of it," said Kohli.
He further added, "The film was shot during Covid in Scotland. The rules of lockdown were pretty strict. The film was shot mostly in the night and it was freezing cold in January-February. It was minus seven-degree Celsius we were shooting in. We were locked up in a hotel and it was pretty concentrated, you know shooting this film. Then to come and shed off the baggage of him (his character) and go to sleep, wake up and then become him again it was a lot of hard work."
When asked about his working experience with Sonam, Purab said that both had to keep a 'big distance' from each other because our director Shome wanted that. The narrative of the character is so vast. . . normally when you are on set and acting with the actors you are really friendly getting along. In fact, Vinay (Pathak) is in the film and he is someone with whom I started my career. He is like my teacher. The first person to teach me about acting was him when we did 'Hip Hip Hurray' 25 years ago. Vinay was the writer of the show. He conducted workshops and trained us with this theatre background. He gave me my first lessons on acting. He was in the film too. Lillete Dubey was in it. But the character I was playing was separated from all these people. Though Vinay and I hung out a little bit, I couldn't be friends or be in that friendly mode anymore with any of them just to keep that distance and the loneliness the character feels. So, I did separate myself consciously."