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Actor Deepak Dobriyal has spent over a decade in the film industry. The actor, popularly known for playing relatable characters on-screen, transformed into a cop in his latest Netflix film, Sector 36. In an exclusive interview with India Today Digital, he spoke at length about his ambitions, his past struggles, the ‘underrated’ tag that people usually associate him with, and finally being in a position where he can make his own choices by rejecting and accepting films.
For Deepak, Sector 36 is an opportunity to break his popular screen image. Excerpt from the interview:
How are you reacting to all the appreciation coming your way for Sector 36?
I am so happy I can’t express it in words. I keep responding to everyone’s messages. I wake up and there are so many appreciatory messages in my inbox. It’s such a grateful position to be in as a human being and as an actor.
Did you expect this kind of adulation when you accepted the film in the first place?
None of it was expected. This kind of adulation from everyone is bigger than anyone can imagine. I used to think no one else could appreciate my work better than myself, but I am surprised at the kind of appreciation I get from others. I think I’ve surprised them in a sense that I’ve given them something different to absorb. People have their own perceptions about the kind of roles I can perform and the work I can do. Sector 36 changed all of that.
I have played a grey character here. He is a corrupt man, but he still has a heart. Humanity hasn’t gone away.
Please explain your process of getting into the skin of a character, especially an intense one like Ram Charan Pandey in Sector 36.
I always go back to my age-old learnings. I remember what our teachers told us. I believe in creating my own sketch of the person I am playing. That’s my first step towards surrendering to that character. I try to decode that personality in my own language. I break the borrowed image of these roles. For example, if I am playing a cop, I will first put all the screen references that I have in front of me. Then, I’ll start dissecting them as per the requirements of my role. I would think whether my cop is a heroic, larger-than-life person, or someone very grounded and real. That helps me with the separation. It’s like taking a bucket and putting your own elements inside until it is completely filled. At the end of the process, I become that character. So, whatever he is doing now, it’s completely him, not me.
Even when I am doing remakes, I follow the same process. I eliminate the borrowed images and visuals.
Have you finally reached that phase in your career where you can easily say no to films?
I am a very expressive person. I want to make people laugh around me. I get easily acquainted with people. That makes them believe that I am easily available. And then their perceptions are broken when I say no to their films. They are shocked. That also upsets many people. All I want to do is to stay true to the stories and the roles I am doing. In fact, a lot of people believe that I can never sign a bad film. That’s not true, though. I have done a couple of bad films as well (laughs).
I think from a clean mind and a positive heart. This belief makes me stronger. People want to see a powerful personality, someone who looks engaging and exudes strength. I am a very happy-go-lucky person, and nobody expects me to say no to them. They might not think of me as a fluke, but it’s very difficult for them to take me seriously. I have faced that in my career.
But, doesn’t saying ‘no’ shut many doors professionally?
Yes, a lot of people shut doors in your face once you start saying no to them. But, I believe that the one who really has that faith in your work will always come back to you. A lot of times it has happened that I rejected someone’s film, and then they realised that they probably have a better role for me in another film, and they offered me a new project, knowing my calibre. And if it’s a good script, why wouldn’t I do it?
My open-ness makes people take me for granted. They prefer people who live an exclusive life. I believe in keeping my work exclusive, and life open. I think there’s more learning here and less show-off.
With films like Sector 36, do you finally see filmmakers offering you meaty roles, where you are probably not treated just as a comic-relief or a secondary character in the story?
I am honestly grateful that such stories are coming my way. I am no longer treated as a comic relief in a film, not that I regret doing what I did in the past. But, it always feels special when your filmmaker shows faith in you and your audience shows that kind of acceptance. When I was doing Bholaa, people told me to wait and not accept anything just like that. I waited on many projects. I also sometimes regret losing out on films because I got so much good work at that time, all together. I kept waiting, and nothing good came my way later.
Do opportunities like these also make you more expressive as an actor, and give you more liberty?
I feel free as an artiste at this phase in my life. I have the freedom today to choose and reject. I am no longer in my struggling phase. It feels good, of course. I might regret it later after rejecting a certain project, but I am glad that I can make that choice for myself today. It also gives me a lot of confidence as an actor. I get a lot of work. People call me underrated, but honestly, I am blessed with a ton of work coming my way. The industry has loved me. I just don’t want to repeat myself. I want to break my image on-screen.
In what sense do you feel free?
As a child, I was never interested in conventional studies. I was always a learner. I don’t live with that result-oriented mindset. Where’s the joy in constantly asking yourself ‘Am I passed’, ‘Have I cleared that?’. There’s joy in thinking beyond that. I don’t look for validation. I hear actors giving a shot and asking others if they did a good job with it. I don’t do that. I know what I do and what I have done. I never ask anybody to validate my work. These opportunities have given me this kind of confidence and freedom.
Aditya Nimbalkar said it was you who chose him for Sector 36 and not the other way round. How does that make you feel?
You know directors like Anurag Kashyap, Ram Gopal Varma, want to work with the best talents from every field. They want themselves to be the first ones working with these talented people. I want Aditya Nimbalkar to achieve that kind of success. He should be able to set new benchmarks in filmmaking, and he will. He has so much potential. He is so subtle, and he makes you do things in such a smart way. He will become a big director soon.