From Omkara to Tanu Weds Manu, Deepak Dobriyal has carved a niche for himself in the industry and also received praise for his role in Hindi Medium.
“The film changed my image as a comic actor. As the father of an economically challenged family desperate to see his son go to an angrezi-medium school, I got a chance to stop being funny. The biggest compliment I’ve received is that I made audiences cry in Hindi Medium,” says Deepak.
And the actor is now riding high on the success of his last film. “During a year of box office setbacks, I am proud to say that our film has made substantial profits,” he adds.
But Deepak now wants to retrieve, rescue and release his mentor late Kundan Shah’s short film Hero, which was shot live on a railway station in Mumbai for seven days.
“It was the most challenging performance of my career. Every day for a week Kundan sir and I would descend on platform number 5 of Goregaon station, and I’d be told to do my own thing. Everyone stared at me performing all kinds of weird stunts and antics. By the third day even the tea seller on the platform knew me. We shot live without worrying about the results,” he recalls, adding that the two would hold hands and take long walks.
The actor remembers the director and the experience he shared with much pleasure. “Kundan sir was my brother, my mentor. When we shot this short film we were like two boys on a rampage doing whatever came to our minds. He wanted me in his last film P Se PM Tak. But I was unable to do it. He is gone and my film with him remains unreleased. I am trying my best to get it released, if not for my sake then Kundan sir’s sake,” smiles Deepak
Right now the actor is excited about Akshat Verma’s Kaalakaandi, where he is playing a gangster alongside Vijay Raaz, who is also his neighbour.
“We play two greedy gangsters and we had a ball shooting together. We’d travel together every day to the shooting discussing how to interpret the day’s scenes. The fact that Vijay is such a talented co-actor definitely helped me give my best,” he says.
