You are governed by your past work in Bollywood: Purab Kohli

PTI, Jul 18, 2019, 3:26 PM IST

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Mumbai: Acting is a profession where one always struggles to get challenging roles, says Purab Kohli, who will next be seen in Netflix thriller “Typewriter”.

The actor, known for his critically-lauded turns in “My Brother… Nikhil”, “I Am” and “Rock On!” among others, says he believes in waiting for the right opportunity.

“You are always trying to fight it out. Once in a while, you get an opportunity like ‘Rock On!’ and then people can try you as a lead. But if one or two (of these films) don’t work, then you are back to where it is or was,” Purab told PTI in an interview here.

The actor, 40, says someone who has optimised all his chances in recent times is Vicky Kaushal, who started with smaller roles before starring in big projects.

“One should not let go of an opportunity that helps you prove yourself as an actor. Every performance that you have, you have to do better. That is what your profession expects from you,” he said.

“Unfortunately or fortunately, you are governed by the work you have done in your career. But in Bollywood, distribution is selective. It is about what they can market. It is defined by what they can get people to keep buzzing. It is all about luring the audience first.”

There are a lot of offers with the boom in OTT platforms but for Purab doing quality work is more important.

“In India, there are so many OTT platforms that just popped up, from big to small ones. There is an abundance of work. Everybody is busy and working. There is a lot of quantity and quality being filtered at the moment with big directors entering the web. It is about quality for me.”

His role of a police officer in “Typewriter”, written and directed by Sujoy Ghosh, was finalised a week before the shooting began, Purab said.
“I auditioned for it, got selected. In a short span of time, things got finalised. After years of experience and trying and testing with different roles, what I look for now is who is making the show or film. I know Sujoy’s work and I wanted to work with him. So there is a medal that this project already has. I trust him.”

“Typewriter” revolves around a group of nine-year-old children in Goa, who are on a mission to capture ghosts.

Talking about horror as a genre, Purab said, “Horror is the real hero. Indian films tend to make horror element grand. But the show is not like that, it has a beautiful story and characters. Horror is just a bonus.”

“Typewriter” premieres on Netflix this Friday.