By Sanya Pandey
Known for his phenomenal work in movies like ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘NH10’ among others, versatile actor Neil Bhoopalam who is now seen essaying a grey hat in MX Original Series ‘Kiska Hoga Thinkistan Season 2’, says it was great fun to play William.
On what interested him towards the project, Neil told UNI on Tuesday ,”I studied advertising. I did mass media course from Mumbai. And at that time the course was brand new, I was the second batch. Journalism and advertising were the only two specialities. I chose advertising. Then I got into the theatre. And I decided not to go into advertising world, and only focus on acting. And at the age of 25 I decided to do full acting. I wanted to then focus on the show business only. So in my acting career, I have never played something so close to the second job that I wanted to do in my life.”
”That way it’s a comfortable space, and also the creators are ad-people themselves–N Padmakumar, our director, and Rajnish our producer from Jigsaw pictures. They are ad-people, so they know the homework, the backstory. So it’s pretty authentic, except for some drama point, and that’s also in the same realm. William is not a nice guy–but he is also not a bad guy. He causes trouble, because of his entire presence and the duty that he has to do. So I thought it was great fun to play William,” the ‘Kaalakaandi’ actor said. When asked if he had any inhibitions regarding the negative role he was offered, Neil laughed and said that the shoot was very far.
”No real inhibitions. There are one or two pointers which I can’t really reveal, –he is deliberately being a really nasty guy. So just those pointers I had to talk to my director and get clarity that why am I going to such an extent,” Neil explained. About the inputs he gave as an actor for the role William, Neil said,”I had put a little effort on the lingo. My first few scenes was with Naveen and it was great for me, as I got the pitch and the soul of the character. Thanks to playing scenes with him, it was like playing Tennis.So these were the inputs–in terms of delivery, timing.”
On what is the most challenging space for him–theatre, web, films or TV shows, the ‘Lust Stories’ fame actor said,”I like to do a little more of camera. I have done a lot of theatre, I have spent more time practicing on the stage. So there I am nervous but also comfortable. On camera the more I do, the better I get. So I don’t like one favourite one, because at the end of it is acting. But what is interesting, is what is going to happen next. Right now there is a boom of digital medium. Maybe 5-10 yrs later, there will be growth in virtual reality.”
Whether he is choosy regarding scripts, Neil said,”It’s a mix. I have seen an old interview of Shahrukh– and it is interesting to see how hard they have worked. And Shahrukh himself had said, that time those characters were lead, but now it is more of character driven stories.So you have to be specialist in all of these things. So it will be interesting to see what will happen in future especially in films. As long as I am an integral part of the story, as long as I am there to change the plot, or add to the plot, I want to be part of the project.”
If he is satisfied being the unconventional face of the industry, Neil said,”I am very satisfied with the boom in the industry. I am very grateful to this industry, and the industry that we are in is one of the best thing right now.” On whether he thinks he has achieved the desired stardom,the actor said,”I want to work every year, every month, stardom will be a by product. if it happens great,and if doesn’t happens it’s okay. As long as I have consistent work, abled body, and a focused mind, it would be nice to live till 94 and see how much I have done. On his upcoming projects, Neil added that he has a play coming in Delhi titled ‘A few good men’.
Continuing from season one, where we got a sneak peek into the world of advertising, this time the world of MTMC Ad Agency will depict the fast-paced lives and harsh realities of the advertising-world.Directed by the veteran ad film maker N Padmakumar, this season touches various emotions such as interpersonal rivalry, friendship, love, betrayal and extra-marital affairs in the office space. The series stars Naveen Kasturia, Shravan Reddy, Mandira Bedi, Vasuki Sunkavelli, Satyadeep Mishra amongst others.
