KABIR DUHAN SINGH REVEALS HIS LOVE FOR PLAYING THE ANTI-HERO
by MOHNISH SINGH
WHEN it comes to playing a tough, moustache-twirling villain, Kabir Duhan Singh is probably one of the best.
The actor is so well-versed in portraying a negative character that he has successfully carved out a career as an antagonist in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. After essaying some of the most compelling villains in multiple blockbusters in the south Indian film industry, the versatile actor is now ready to set his foot in Bollywood with multiple projects.
No prizes for guessing what kind of roles he will be playing. He may be scary on-screen, but the extremely down-to-earth actor is super friendly in real life and was happy to speak with Eastern Eye about his forthcoming projects, including his Bollywood debut and working with Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
He also discussed his big unfulfilled dream and why he chose to make a living as a villain on-screen.
How would you describe 2020 for you?
2020 started off on a good note for me. I had finished three films by March. One film each in Marathi, Telugu and Kannada. I will be making my debut in Marathi cinema with Shreyash Jadhav’s Fakat. I even purchased an apartment in Mumbai. But by March 20, all shooting activities came to a grinding halt, and we had to get back to our homes from wherever we were shooting. I was shooting in Pune. Thereafter, 2020 turned out to be a peculiarly challenging year for many.
How did you spend your lockdown?
I worked on my craft. I even finished writing a script. I will share it with some producers in the south. It’s an out-and-out commercial action entertainer, the kind of film people love watching down south.
When did you resume work?
I went to the sets in the month of November to resume work on all the pending projects. I was shooting for almost seven films before the coronavirus pandemic struck India and the world. Of all those seven films, two are mainstream Bollywood films. One of them is called Bole Chudiyan alongside Nawaz (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). I am playing an anti-hero in the film.
Does Bole Chudiyan mark your debut in Hindi films?
No! I will be making my Bollywood debut with a mega-budgeted project. The makers are yet to announce it officially, so I cannot talk about it right now. It has been sold to a leading streaming media platform because of the Covid-19 situation. The makers will announce it in March, I guess. It’s a negative role, but a very powerful one for me.
How was your experience working with Nawazuddin Siddiqui?
It was fantastic. I always wanted to work with three actors in life; Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Manoj Bajpayee, and Irrfan Khan. Irrfan is no more with us, so my dream of working with him will never come to fruition. I am hopeful I’ll get to work with Manoj Bajpayee soon. Nawaz is one of the finest actors that we have today. The kind of struggle that he has gone through to fulfil his dreams, I don’t think today’s actors can do even half of it. He is an inspiration for me. I loved working with him, eating food together and going for a walk in the evening.
You have also signed an international film, if I am not wrong…
Yes, I am very much excited about my international debut. That film will be releasing in 80 countries across the world. It is a Bangladesh-Turkey co-production titled Netri: The Leader. It is expected to get off the ground soon.
You come from the Hindi belt, then why did you choose to go all the way to the south of India to kick-start your career in films?
I belong to Faridabad, Haryana. When I came to Mumbai for my modelling assignments, there was always a thought at the back of my mind that I should first get into south films. Today, my 22 films have been dubbed in Hindi. They are being played on television. The audience here is yet to see my work in Hindi, but they already know me. Now that I am finally ready to set my foot in Bollywood, there is already an atmosphere of anticipation, I feel.
Why did you choose to become an anti-hero in films?
I always wanted to play grey-shaded characters. A villain has a lot more things to do in a film than a hero. I think that audiences like anti-heroes more than heroes. There is something irresistible about them. Look at the crazy popularity of Yash who played an anti-hero in KGF: Chapter 1 (2018). People are waiting for KGF: Chapter 2 with bated breath. Whatever fan following I have today, I guess it is because I play antagonists and not conventional roles.
Why did you take so much time for your debut in Hindi films?
I had been getting offers from Bollywood since the beginning of my acting career. I had rejected almost 15 films before signing my first film in Hindi. I was always looking for projects where I play the antagonist. Why? Because if I kick-off my career with a lead character, they will call me for lead characters only. If I make my debut with a side character, I will be practically typecast for such roles. I will never get a lead character after that. That’s sad but true. I didn't want to be typecast as a character artist. I always receive calls from casting directors for the main villain. So I hope that those calls keep coming to me forever (laughs).
Was it difficult to learn south Indian languages at the beginning of your career?
Of course, but I will always be thankful to my first director who really helped me in the beginning. A lot of Hindi-speaking actors who work in south industries dub their dialogues, but Radha Krishna Kumar, who was the director of my debut film Jil (2015), was very particular about the fact that I learnt my dialogues in Telugu. And I cannot thank him enough for that. He worked really hard on me. I will never forget him. Had he not encouraged me to learn my dialogues then, I would have never reached here, I feel. Today, I am able to learn my dialogues easily, be it in any language.
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
Aamir Khan’s blend of classic and contemporary fashiongetty images
Aamir Khan’s dedication to authentic character portrayals getty images
Cinematic milestones reflected in Aamir Khan’s on-screen imagegetty images
A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5