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‘The film industry has a lot of competition. You don’t always get the roles you want.’
Photograph: Kind courtesy Gurmeet Choudhary/Instagram
Gurmeet Choudhary is thrilled with his patriot act in the Web series, Commander Karan Saxena.
He even sings in the series, a first in his life.
“I wanted to do action films and feel they would have turned out better for me. People would have liked them more. But you don’t get what you want,” Gurmeet tells Rediff.com Contributor Sameena Razzaq.
The show has an interesting tag line: ‘Jab Commander aata hai toh Bhavandar aata hai.’
You will see how our R&AW agents leave no stone unturned to reach out to places that need help.
They are the quintessential saviours of our country. They leave their families behind and sacrifice almost everything to serve our nation.
Commander Karan Saxena is a larger-than-life character.
Our writer Amit Khan has been writing about this heroic character since the last three decades.
His novels have been a huge hit, so it was a huge responsibility for us to replicate the magic of those novels on screen.
IMAGE: Gurmeet Choudhary in Commander Karan Saxena.
You play a R&AW agent. These characters are physically very demanding. Did you undergo any special training?
My dad was in the army, so I practically grew up in that environment.
Though R&AW is a different department, the officers pretty much do the same thing: Serve the country.
The only thing I had to work on is being physically fit for the role. I read a lot of books and watched many documentaries on R&AW agents to get the nuances right.
Director Jatin Wagle knows a lot about geopolitics and the men in uniform. So that helped a lot.
Having played sanskari characters, does it become difficult to share a personal moment with your wife on social media without having to deal with the backlash from so-called moral police?
We are different people off camera.
What we put on social media is actually how we are in real life. It’s not fake.
That is how we live our life.
My wife Debina (Bonnerjee) and I are very active on Instagram.
We regularly post pictures of our activities. I think people can relate to whatever we do as a couple.
We post pictures of the moments we like the most on social media. We also post things that we sometimes don’t like.
Our posts represent our personalities.
There are trollers who troll us with nasty comments but 95 percent of the comments are positive.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Gurmeet Choudhary/Instagram
You have sung the title track on the show. This is your first brush with singing. Have you always been a rap fan?
Frankly, I had no connection with singing.
Though my dad was an army officer, he was a trained classical singer too.
My wife Debina is also a trained classical singer.
I am the only besura in the khandaan.
Somehow, the producer of our show felt I could rap.
It could be because I am quite vocal about what I feel for the country and our army.
He said rapping is about saying things that are in your heart and I do that pretty well.
When I told Debina, she asked me to opt out, saying you won’t be able to pull it off. But I persisted.
When the song came out, Debina was surprised and extremely happy.
I was happy to prove Debina wrong.
Normally, Web series are for binge-watching but here, you have staggered the episodes.
Yes, even I wondered why we are releasing one episode at a time.
But this is working in our favour as people are curious and eagerly awaiting the next episode.
I feel this is the best way to stay relevant and rule people’s hearts.
IMAGE: Gurmeet with wife Debina Bonnerjee and daughters Liana and Divisha. Photograph: Kind courtesy Gurmeet Choudhary/Instagram
You are father to two lovely daughters. How has fatherhood changed you as a person?
I had heard when a man becomes a father, his attitude towards life changes. In my case, there was no major change.
Yes, there is more responsibility and you look forward to winding up work soon so you can run back home to your kids.
The carefreeness is gone.
Earlier, we would go out to watch a movie or just hang out with friends but now, we first think about our kids.
Also, I have become more cautious about the work I do.
I want my children to feel proud of the choices I make, career-wise.
But frankly, deep down, I have also become a child with my children.
As a family, we are a mad bunch who do lot of pagalpanti at home.
IMAGE: Gurmeet Choudhary, Ali Fazal and Sapna Pabbi in Khamoshiyan.
Despite stellar performances, your Hindi films did not get you the due you deserved. Do you think the OTT has opened new avenues for you?
The film industry has a lot of competition. You don’t always get the roles you want.
I wanted to do action films and feel they would have turned out better for me. People would have liked them more. But you don’t get what you want.
My films did average business. But I got to work with good people.
You haven’t eaten a samosa in the last 14 years. When will your samosa vanwas get over?
My samosa vanwas will continue. As actors, we lead a disciplined life and follow a strict diet.
I have become typecast when it comes to physical fitness.
When people talk about Gurmeet Choudhary, they assume he will come with 6 packs.
So to maintain my fitness, I avoid eating certain foods and samosa is one of them.
IMAGE: Gurmeet Choudhary in Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein.
What other projects are you working on?
I have just completed the Netflix series, Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein. It will release in November or December.
