Gulshan Devaiah interview: ‘Bad Cop is my interpretation of a mass hero’

This might almost seem like a quote borrowed from the back of a greeting card but one gathers, just as I did during a lengthy and meandering conversation with him, that there’s truly no rush about the way Devaiah (46) operates. “Why should I feel I deserve more than what I have?” he quips nonchalantly over the phone, after duly reminding me that a lot of his work ethic and sense of wisdom have been accumulated while on the job because he didn’t go to a film school, nor did he carry the leverage of being from a film family that could have prepped him a little for what's to come.

But his apparent Zen mode aside, there’s a reason why Devaiah is able to cast an effect on the viewer with seemingly very little effort and it is that he doesn’t shy away from approaching a role the way only he interprets it. Some of the best in the business — the Nawazuddin Siddiquis, the Irrfan Khans and Naseeruddin Shahs — do something quite similar in that they imbue a distinctive charm and personality in whatever role at hand and make it their own, almost to the extent that you don’t see anyone else in that place; rather, you don’t want to see anyone else in that place. You don’t always need them to play leads or headliners in a movie, even a couple of small showings of their talent will suffice.

In the upcoming show Bad Cop, though, Devaiah is the consummate lead and he is back with another unique iteration of a dual role, as these incompatible twins Karan and Arjun, to pique our curiosities. The eight-episode series, the official remake of the 2017 German show Bad Cop: Kriminell Gut, premieres on Disney+ Hotstar on June 21 and boasts the services of director Aditya Datt (Dil Diya Hai, Aashiq Banaya Aapne, Table No. 21) writer Rensil D’Silva (as Head Writer) and cast members Anurag Kashyap, Harleen Sethi, Saurabh Sachdeva and others. Excerpts from the free-wheeling chat:

Your performance as Jimmy/Karate Mani in Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota has set the bar pretty high as far as double roles are concerned. What’s Bad Cop like in that regard?

(Laughs) This one’s more like the action comedies that one watched in the 1990s — you know, the films starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and others. The characters I play here, too, are interestingly named Karan and Arjun so it is 1990s Hindi pop-culture all the way. The plotline has no resemblances with those kinds of films but it is the sensibility (and the intention) that’s prominent here. The story has a screen logic of its own and I liked the fact that it is its own world that we have tried to create. It is not a realistic portrayal of a cop’s life like in Dahaad — that guy really exists somewhere but this guy (in Bad Cop) doesn’t. So, I liked the challenge of doing something quite the opposite this time around, seeing how I could play this policeman who probably exists only in Rohit Shetty’s world.

What’s also interesting is that you are working with a filmmaker like Aditya Datt, whose sensibilities could differ from what you are known for as an actor. Did you guys, sort of, meet halfway for this project?

I have worked with Aditya before (in Commando 3) and I knew what I was getting into. He is unapologetic about wanting to make stuff that’s cool, stylish and entertaining, and he doesn’t pretend to be anyone else. And see, the type of actors that he brought on board for this ‘mass entertainer’ is quite unique — be it Anurag, Harleen, Saurabh or Aishwarya (Sushmita), you don’t necessarily associate these actors with ‘commercial cinema’. So, what I liked a lot is that the showrunners sought actors who brought something refreshing to this template. And all of us, I am sure, found the possibility of that blend quite exciting.

How did you warm up to the idea of playing these two guys — Karan and Arjun — then?

It just seemed a lot of fun and I believe playing these kinds of roles is also good for the diversity in my career. Anurag called it my mass version recently and I agree with that because this performance in Bad Cop is my interpretation of a mass hero. I didn’t blindly follow Aditya but we had many discussions about approaching these twins. And I mainly wanted to know how I would fit into this world that’s not realistic at all. I don’t have the physique — bulging biceps, washboard abs, broad shoulders and all that — like the actors (some of them are major movie stars) that typically play these kinds of action roles. I, on the other hand, am a skinny fu*ker! I am doing action, though, and I knew it could be fun; if you do submit to something like this, you can find some truthfulness here as well. Initially, actors such as myself, have trouble accepting this form of storytelling because we try to base everything on logic.

You have been part of shows that hark back to the 1990s’ pop culture. Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota refers heavily to 1980s/1990s’ pulpy action cinema. Guns of Gulaabs is set in the 1990s and Bad Cop, too, has that essence. How do you make sure that one looks and feels different from the other?

The differentiator exists in the way each of these filmmakers wants to tell their stories. Vasan Bala (Mard Ko...) has a more cinephile way of looking at things so he is referencing a lot of old, lesser-known cinema. Raj & DK (Guns and Gulaabs) don’t do that but they create their own fictional place and fantasy, whereas Aditya Datt, as I said, just wants to put out something fun and entertaining.

You also talk to the filmmaker before anything else and if you are familiar with their work, like in the case of Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Ram Leela, you know what they want from you. Each director is different — Dibakar Banerjee’s work is layered and it has more than what you see, Bhansali uses heightened emotions and so on. So, it's about spending time with them, listening, questioning, trying out your interpretations and stuff like that. Sometimes there is some friction as well when your ideas don’t match the ideas of your director, and that could be frustrating. But you still never know; these creative collisions might push you in a new direction and that’s what I enjoy the most.

That’s a big facet of your job, I suppose? To be flexible.

Yeah, sure. And you learn that with experience. I saw a young actor in Radhika Madan during the shooting of Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, who had never been part of a film before that. There were days when she had to give 15-16 takes straight but she was never embarrassed about that nor did she take any of it personally saying that nothing she tried was working. We were making this movie in 2017 and I have been acting since 2011 so if I were in her place, I might have felt, “Oh, I don’t know what I am doing and I can’t do this”. But this girl, at 3 am in the morning, was still at it with so much enthusiasm. I told myself that I wanted to learn how to do that because that’s a great quality to have.

Tell me this: what’s Kashyap like as a co-star?

He’s very chill and we had a lot of time to chat, which we hadn’t done much of in the past. There was some distance (between us) after his separation with Kalki (Koechlin) and she being a friend of mine; he and I weren’t meeting all that often. But I want to hang out with him, man! I have always found him cute and adorable.

Coming back to Bad Cop, it is apparent at this point that the web or the OTT space has been very good to you, hasn’t it? Theatrical releases, too, have helped you etch a successful path but you get more author-backed roles here…

The business model is quite different here on OTT. With theatres, earning that money back becomes paramount but not every film becomes a hit. So, consequently, you see that certain budgets are given only to certain theatrical releases because big stars can probably draw those returns in the first couple of days. You need to be able to justify that budget. And even though they feel that I am a capable actor, filmmakers cannot cast me because of all these pressures. But they can if it is streaming or a long-format show because the economics are completely different here. The burden of getting subscribers is not on the actor but on the platform — and that’s why actors thrive here. With big-budget films, the burden to attract audiences lies with the star which is why the credit also (ultimately) goes to the main few people, usually the male protagonists.

Bollywood must be a weird place for an actor like you then? Nobody knows what’s good, what’s bad, what works, what doesn’t, etc.

I don’t find the place weird at all, to be honest. I don’t think people know what they want either, except that they like to see the same thing again and again. It’s like going to my favourite restaurant and having the same pizza because it is comforting. At the same time, you could try a new place and find something great which could become your new favourite. What I mean is that claiming that you know what will work and what won’t is a bit rubbish. There are trends, of course, but those things don’t always work.

What’s more rewarding to you as an actor? Cult successes like Shaitan, Hunterrr or Mard Ko Dard...? Or box-office hits?

Uhmmm... I will take the box-office, but I don’t really think about these things. I just want to have fun, have a diverse career and (whatever I do) has to be meaningful to me. Success and money are incidental and if I don’t get any of it, I don’t think I would break my head over them. I am doing quite okay, man. Not really chasing success or fame at this point but if they do come, I won’t reject them.

How do you respond to India’s recent run at Cannes 2024: Payal Kapadia, Anasuya Sengupta and others? Despite these historic wins, these films are apparently struggling to find theatrical space in India. Your own film with Vasan Bala, Peddlers (2012), went to Cannes (Critics Week) but never saw the light of day. Where do you think the problem is?

The problem is nobody cares. Neither the industry nor the system cares about these films. Anurag mentioned recently that even the subsidy or the rebate that Payal (Kapadia) is supposed to receive, hasn’t been given yet. The film (All We Imagine As Light) could be made because it’s an international co-production and filmmakers of that kind don’t get any support here. And the social media influencers were there (at Cannes 2024) for themselves and they weren’t really integrating their work with cinema in any way. I mean, you would at least find the Indian Press/media at such events today but when we took our film in 2012, it was so hard to get an audience for your press shows. So, to take credit when you have nothing to do with it, I find it a bit hypocritical. Let Payal Kapadia’s success be hers.