Actor Deepak Dobriyal, who played Rajju Tiwari in the film Omkara and Pappi in Tanu Weds Manu, has been continuously playing a variety of roles. He received a lot of appreciation for his role as a policeman in the recently released film Sector 36 on Netflix. In the coming days, he will be seen in the film The Fable.
Theatre has played a role in this, but my understanding of characters has improved after coming to Mumbai because I am doing cinema. The acting process of theatre and cinema is very different. I had to forget the things of theatre for about seven years to work in cinema. You get lots of praise from critics in theatre, but when you come here you realise that this world is something else. Then I learnt the way here. There is no bigger teacher than Mumbai.
Did your talent get recognised late?
When I didn’t get work in the beginning, it meant that I didn’t deserve it. Now that I got it, I deserve it. If you get a good job and you can’t do it, it is very disappointing. I believe that I have danced with every director. This is my achievement. I want to maintain it. Many times when things are not available, the artist takes it negatively. Then he gets angry. Whereas I tell the new artists that don’t be angry, don’t complain, don’t make excuses. Make your work better. Apart from that, I got the best things at the right time.
There is a Ramleela scene in Sector 36. Have you ever actually done Ramleela?
My father used to do prompting in our colony in Delhi. I had seen the getup etc. there. But before doing a film, I remove all the old memories or images from my mind. I have to find my own character. I did the same here. Ramleela is performed in the police line in Uttar Pradesh. A glimpse of that must have been seen in the film.
In a scene in Sector 36, when does this happen in real life?
In real life, anger comes on many things but I don’t drink it, I give it a different form. Drinking means that you are tolerating it. I take it with a smile that I am getting a different way to see it. Meaning like sometimes a person is very irritable, you don’t have to sit with him but he is with you.
