Adgully Exclusive | Gulshan Grover: The Bad Man Unplugged

Many know him as the original Bad Man of the Bollywood. He created a niche for himself, when the likes of Amrish Puri, Amjad Khan and Shakti Kapoor were dominating the film industry as big and successful villains. But ever since he made his mark with the film Rocky, he has never looked back and has given many memorable roles as villains ' ones, which is hard to forget.

Grover did his initial education from Delhi and passed out Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. Fascinated by the lifestyle of rich kids, he planned to do something which would make him popular. So he set out the journey, without being hell-bent of waiting for good roles. Instead, he took the first opportunity that came his way.

That's how Rocky came, and his rise to stardom, and one of the most successful villain of his time. He is one of the most versatile actors in the industry and it is proved from the fact that he played roles of a reformist-jailor in Nagesh Kukunoor's Teen Deewarein, to being a villain in a role like Chattan Singh in Soumitra Ranade's Janjantram, Mamamtram. Incidentally, few know that Grover also lent his voice to a song in the film!

And Grover didn't just restrict himself to Bollywood. He flew to West, where he did a sequel to Disney's Jungle Book. His efforts were soon getting noticed and he became the only Bollywood star to be tapped by a Washington-based company to appear in television commercials for its international long-distance dialing number.

After making a mark here, Grover has also worked with five foreign films, including the Tibetan We're No Monks and the Italian Les, Mystères de Sadjurah, where he played the main villain as a rebel chief.

This Saturday, Adgully speaks exclusively to the bad man, Gulshan Grover. Excerpts:

Looking back at his career, Grover says that it has been a wonderful and a magnificent journey. "Journey has been excellent. Audiences have always liked my work and appreciated it and have given me their loving blessings. I have no complains at all," he says.

"I have been a very successful villain and I have also played various types of other roles, romantic, supporting and even light roles. I am very happy and excited about it," he adds.

So how and where did it all began for Grover?

He was raised in Delhi. After completing his graduation, he moved to Mumbai and enrolled himself into Roshan Taneja's acting school, which had the likes of Shatrughan Sinha, Shabana Azmi, Jaya Bhaduri, Anil Kapoor as notable alumni's

"My parents always taught that no matter whatever you do and where ever you are nobody can take your right of being brilliant. The kind of resources somebody else has and you don't have it doesn't mean that you are anything lesser," he recalls.

"So I studied very hard with Shri Ram College of Commerce, where you can get an admission with only above 90% score. At that time I had to change many buses and walk a few miles every day to reach my university but that did not deter me in anyway.

"After graduation, I left Delhi and came to Bombay (Mumbai) which I had not seen before. I enrolled myself into professor Roshan Taneja's acting school, who is a teacher who has taught right from Shatrughan Sinha to Shabana Azmi to Jaya Bhaduri. In fact, Anil Kapoor was my batch mate at the acting school.

"After that I worked as an acting teacher in the same school and that's where I met Sanjay Dutt, Tina Munim and Sunny Deol -- I was one of their acting teachers. And that's where, later Sunil Dutt gave me a role in his film Rocky and then there was no turning back.

"After that I have done many landmark films and each film helped to go forward and do something better. What really made me a villain were films like Soni Mahiwal and Ram Lakhan. There was no stopping then and here I am today.

And working in negative roles, earned him the nickname "Bad Man'

"I had done a film called Ram Lakhan in which I had a dialogue "Bad man' which I kept saying it to myself in the film. The film was a huge success and so was my dialogue and my name changed to "BAD MAN', he explains.

But he is not worried about the bad man's image and says that the films are not written keeping the villain in mind. "See films are not written with the bad man role. Very few films are written with a proper villain. Therefore today you will see a comedy villain, or negative roles with a little lighter role that's why you don't see me playing such roles anymore. And I am also happy that I am doing all kinds of roles," he says.

About the latest crop of directors, Grover feels that the new directors look at the minutest of details, while making a film.

"I think the new directors are working in far more detail. Not that the earlier directors were bad, it is just that they had different method and this method.

"It is like how the generation is changing similarly the new directors represent the present generation. I can talk as far as film making is concerned I do not know about the other areas," he says.

Grover feels that there is change in films that are being made and he wouldn't mind working with the new directors.

"There is nothing like I am dying to work with an "x' director. But I will be very happy if someone has something really good to offer to me and I will be looking forward to it," he says.

"And as for the change in the movies that are being made, well earlier, the films had a clear cut hero, villain, and a story and you could kind of expect also what is going to happen in the end.

"But today the characters are far more real. Things are a little complicated but even far more entertaining. They are far glossier and the visuals are different. I can't really say much, but you look at a film like Mother India what grand visuals it had. Cinema like everything has evolved and has taken a new shape," he explains.

But that's also because the marketing has changed drastically, he feels. "Marketing is one thing that has changed tremendously. Presently there are films that are spending as much money on marketing as much on making it. Marketing is not only expensive but also evolving.

"You suddenly see actors whose films are releasing everywhere. And the audiences are also intelligent enough to understand, it is like a leader asking showing up asking for a vote. Their obvious reaction would be "paanch saal kaha the saale".

"Now similarly these actors show up at tv shows, family shows, malls etc and everywhere because they want their films to be successful. I don't personally agree to that very much to be very honest. Inspite of all those actors showing up majority of the films haven't worked; unless the film has something to offer.

"Audiences listen to no one, you can keep saying this is a fantastic film you please see it, you will love it and all that but they don't give a damn about it. In fact you will see them doing so many pathetic things to get that attention so couple of people would go and buy tickets. Once their film is out they disappear," he laments.

But despite achieving all the success, he is still hungry for more. "There is so much left to do. Right now is the best and the most interesting phase to be very honest. I may have done a lot of films and a lot of work but I am just warmed up.

"It is now that I have matured as an actor and I have also had the exposure of different kind of cinema and I am absolutely ready to do some fantastic work and I am enjoying this phase," Grover says.

As for the future projects, Grover is working on Mani Shankar's Knock Out, along with Sanjay Dutt, Irfan Khan and Kangan Raut. Then Red Alert, with Sunil Shetti, Bhagyashree, Naseeruddin Shah, Sameera Reddy and Vinod Khanna. Pooja Bhatt' Kajarare is also due for release.