Actor Amol Parashar is done playing the good boy parts on screen. In his upcoming show Kull – The Legacy Of The Raisingghs, he plays Abhimanyu Raisinggh, a member of a royal family in Bikaner. He is someone who can be best described as a spoilt brat- obnoxious, misogynistic, vain and adept at creating nuisance wherever he goes.
In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, Amol opened up about being offered the role, the unique attraction of playing such a part who is so different than him as a person, and more. (Also read: Kull trailer: Amol Parashar, Nimrat Kaur-starrer delves into chaotic royal family drama. Watch)
On saying yes to Kull
What made him say yes to the show? The actor says, “There was definitely an instant curiosity to the script. The show is very unlike the kind of work that I have done. The character- Abhimanyu Raisinggh, is also very different from the kind of parts that I have done so far. That was a good hook point for me. I get bored very easily if I have to do the same thing for a long period of time. So yes with Kull, meeting the creative team and getting to know their vision of the show, with Ektaa [Kapoor] and the fact that she believed that I should, and I will be able to do this character. She has always offered me parts which are unlike my previous body of work.”
Amol goes on to share how he has faced typecasting in the past. He adds, “There are very few makers who have that kind of imagination and courage, whether it was my first show called Home which I did with Alt Balaji, or the film Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare… I am sure there are couple of people around her who might say, ‘Are you sure?’, ‘He is good but are you sure?’ I remember before Dolly Kitty there were couple of times when people thought I was too urban for small town characters. There were couple of times where I have been denied characters where it was like, ‘He is too nice’, a ‘very good boy image’, but then comes a show like Kull for which I am thought of. So yes, I am happy and grateful. Normally an actor has to convince the makers to try something new but this time it was different, which gives me more motivation to prove the creator right.”
‘There is a tedha-ness to my part’
In Kull, Amol plays a prince, someone who is part of a modern-day royal family. Talking about getting the part right, the actor shares, “I have met some modern day royalty, but yes they are not as bad people as my character is! (laughs) They were decent people. There is a tedha-ness to my part, he is kind of a bad boy. It necessarily does not come from the fact that is a royal. He is just like that. A little obnoxious, a little out of hand, loud, narcissistic. Also some of the worst traits- misogynistic, homophobic- so yeah, he is just not nice! He happens to be a royal and that perhaps gives him a more brattish quality because he has been safeguarded from the repercussions of life. He never got reprimanded, which has in turn encouraged him to become this kind of a nuisance!”
He adds, “This is a type of character who is interesting to watch on screen, from a safe distance. (smiles) That one does not need to deal with this guy in real life. There’s no fun in playing a good guy! I remember there was this one project in the past where there were two guys and one was this nice guy and the other one was obnoxious, and the makers wanted me to play the nice guy, but I insisted that I will only say yes if I get to play the obnoxious one! I don’t want to just play parts that look like me. I want to try out different things, and there is a certain attraction in taking on these rough characters. It is kind of liberating in some ways.”
‘I can get too caught up in logic’
An IIT Delhi graduate in Mechanical Engineering, Amol made a career transition from being an engineer to actor. Is there an influence from those years now as an actor? The actor says, “I was introduced to acting when I was doing theatre in college where I was studying engineering. I think my mental framework is very analytical and problem-solving oriented. I am sure it affects the ways I approach my craft or the characters I play. I remember once I had written a script and the feedback I received was, ‘This reads like engineering! It is almost like you have engineered it through!’ I was like of course!”
He goes on to detail, “Maybe there is a certain kind of thinking, which one realizes over time that it is who I am, which is not something that I can bury or forget. It is a part of me. That also defines the actor I am, the personality that I have. That has its own strengths, and weaknesses- that sometimes I can get too caught up in logic! I have told too many times, ‘Ye toh logical sawal puch rahe ho aap!’ (smiles) I can have doubts but I want to make sense of everything in a script or character.”
“I think it is useful too, as it helps me arrive at certain answers, because they one is able to convey that understanding. So yes, I want to understand how the business side of it works, how the camera works. I want to understand how lighting works. It is just an instinct, a certain curiosity, which hopefully arrives at some kind of wisdom,” he concludes.
Kull is produced by Balaji Digital, created by Ekta R Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor, and directed by Sahir Raza. It will stream exclusively on JioHotstar from May 2.
