Gulshan Devaiah’s 12-year long career started with Anurag Kashyap’s thriller film That Girl in Yellow Boots, a critically acclaimed film that was unequivocally praised across film festivals around the world. Having ventured into the cinematic space, Gulshan went on to hone his acting skills further with a slew of exciting films. He’s work in films such as Shaitan, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, Hate Story, Hunterrr, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, Blurr and the latest one 8 A.M Metro.
The versatile actor, who is celebrating his 45th birthday today, exclusively spoke with News18 Showsha and divulged his birthday plans, revealed if he outed Vijay Varma and Tamannaah Bhatia’s secret relation, his rapport with Vivek Agnihotri and more.
Here are the excerpts of the conversation:
What kind of plans do you have for your special day?
I prefer to be in bed all day on my birthday. I don’t like to be bothered at all. But it never happens. There are tons of best wishes and messages I get, I feel almost obligated to answer that. I usually don’t plan anything. My friends and family, they plan something and this time my ex-wife who’s my best friend, she’s planning something. Most probably, it’ll be a really nice meal at a very fancy restaurant.
Growing up, how did you celebrate birthdays?
My mum used to bake cakes. Those gas ovens were there and she used to bake cakes in that. I really used to enjoy that. The whole day the house would smell like cake but you couldn’t eat it until it was evening. It was excruciating when you were dying to have that cake for hours and hours. People will send me a lot of stuff, some nice things like Gold and Diamond. In the year 2000, on my birthday, I got the best design collection of that year. That was a really memorable prize for me. Because I won a national level award, conferred by the ministry of textiles.
You played a very caring, logical, empathetic and understanding father in Dahaad. Do you ever feel that urge of having kids at this juncture of your life?
I’ll probably be a good father only but I don’t want to have kids. I don’t like kids very much. I am sorry. I don’t mind other people’s kids because you can give them back. Once you have your own, you can’t give it back to them. And they are a menace I tell you. I am sure I was a menace when I was 2 years old.
Only a few days ago, you were teasing Vijay Varma by linking him up with Tamamnah. And it caused a widespread media frenzy, some even claiming that you indirectly confirmed their relationship. So how true are these rumours?
I have no idea. I had only seen 2-3 pictures of them together. I haven’t met her. I don’t even know her. For all you know, she might slap me on my face and be like ‘tum kya bakwas kar rahe ho mere baare mein'(laughs). I don’t know. I got trolled a little bit by her fans, very mildly, not like intensely. They tell me ‘how dare you discuss somebody’s private life’. I am like ‘Maine kya kia yaar? Maine toh naam bhi nahi liya’. But on a serious note, I have no idea. It’s their personal life. But I just found an opportunity to tease him.
What can you tell us about your recent film 8 A.M Metro? How does it feel to reprise a romantic character in a romantic setup?
It’s a lovely story which I connected with. It’s not a romantic film but it’s romance. A lot of concepts that the film discusses are romanticised like literature, poetry, friendship and all that. But it’s not a straightforward, romantic film where a guy meets a girl and falls in love. It’s much more layered and complicated. The two characters come from a happily married background and maybe in a different circumstance, from the audience perspective, they must have been a perfect fit. It’s about two people who are going through some grief or trauma, they find each other and find comfort in each other’s company. I enjoyed working with Saiyami. We both are cricket lovers. We talked a lot about cricket. I would tease her since she is Sachin’s fan and I am a Dravid fan.
What can you tell us about your upcoming projects Guns N Gulabs, Ulajh with Janhvi Kapoor and Duranga Season 2?
Guns N Gulabs is going to be a crazy story with crazy characters. Raj and DK have really pushed the limits with this one. And Ulajh we are in preparation, it’s going to be a slightly difficult part for me and I have to do a lot of pre-production for it. Duranga is going to be the continuation of the story. It’s going to pick-up from where it left off. It’s going to be a lot more emotional for my character as well as Drashti’s character. People can expect it to be a lot more emotional along with Amit Sadh who has woken up in the previous season. Now he becomes part of the narrative and what he does is going to be the thrill element.
You recently made headlines after you disagreed with Vivek Agnihotri over the writers strike in Hollywood. Some people on Twitter are confused over your equations with Vivek Agnihotri. What’s your take on him?
No. I was just trolling him. I have no disagreements with him. I just troll him. Sometimes I agree with things he has to say, sometimes I don’t. It’s very evident from my Twitter interactions and ofcourse he doesn’t even respond to me or acknowledge my tweet. But it’s okay. This seems to be his strategy and it’s a good strategy. I try to come from a sincere place and also sometimes I am poking fun. Yes, I’ve known him well. I actually had the most wonderful working relationship with him. But I do see some of his methods problematic. I don’t know if I am right or he is right or what he is doing. Wherever I get to see he is problematic with his methods and opinions, I try to counter him.
Am I right every time? No, I can possibly be wrong too. But sometimes, I am just poking fun and being a troll also. I have absolutely no reason to believe that he shouldn’t make films. You might like it or not like it but
he has the right to tell his story his way. So these are just Twitter banters and then I have WhatsApp chats with him as well. We do disagree. We don’t talk much anymore as we used to. It’s just that sometimes people just drift apart and they have different ideas and processes. I wish him well and I think he also wishes me well. But we will continue to have some disagreements.