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Lack of good roles kept me away: Kunal

Kunal Kapoor best known for his roles in Rang De Basanti is back on the silver screen with his action thriller Veeram directed by the  six times National award winning director Jayaraj Nair.  Based on Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, the story of Veeram revolves around the protagonist’s desire to achieve, wherein the path is strewn with the love, lust, treachery and deceit.

Kunal Kapoor who is extremely hopeful and happy with his new role spoke to us about his experience, challenges and reasons for giving this film a nod.

Tell us something about your upcoming flick Veeram
 Veeram is one of the most interesting films that I have come across. This is based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth and that makes it all the more intriguing, also it would be my first film where I am playing an anti-hero. I have always played very steady roles in my movies. This one is very different from all my characters.

How challenging was it to play this role?
 It was challenging in many ways as this is the first time I am doing a period film, this is the first time I have got a chance to do an action film and so the bunch of reasons that made it challenging were firstly, it is a Shakespeare story and the character has got so many shades to it. The character starts off being a celebrated a warrior but ends up being a ruthless tyrant. As an actor, it was required to bring different shades and layers to this character because the transforming journey is extremely interesting. 

Secondly, it is not a Malayalam film dubbed in Hindi, in fact, this has been shot in three different languages at the same time. And of course, we had to learn Malayalam to make it look more real and convincing. And thirdly, the physical transformation, the director wanted me to put on a lot of muscle to compliment the role of a warrior so I had to work hard for that. We finished the whole film in 45 days while working 17-18 hours a day.

Kunal, you have stayed away from the silver screen for quite some time, so is there any specific reason for that?
 No there wasn’t any specific reason for staying away from the screen, just the lack of good scripts coming on my way. I wasn’t getting the kind of role I desired, people were offering me same monotonous roles. I wanted to do something different and challenging like this one.

A Hindi remake of Macbeth had already been made - Maqbool, do you fear comparison with the same?
 No, I think Veeram is very different from Maqbool. Of course it has one common ground but in terms of the way the story progresses and the appearance of the characters and the backdrops it is very different from Maqbool, so I don’t really worry about the comparison. Both the films are different in their own way.
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