Abhilash Thapliyal on Cannes Film Festival: 'You wear anything, but eventually, people will talk about your performance'

The multi-talented personality of the entertainment industry, Abhilash Thapliyal, who impressed listeners with his impeccable voice-acting skills as a Radio Jockey and won millions of hearts with his performances in Faadu, Aspirants, Blurr and others, is set to grace the stage of Cannes Film Festival for his upcoming thriller Kennedy, which has been selected for a Midnight screening.

While fans across the world have praised the teaser of this Anurag Kashyap directorial, in an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Abhilash shared his experience of working with the maverick director, how he detox from mentally exhausting characters and more. Excerpts from the interview:

Excitement about gracing the Cannes stage

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I don’t know, actually. I’ve no idea. A lot of people are asking me whether I am anxious or scared. I am just too numb right now. I started accepting the very fact that it’s a big event because the way my friends and family are reacting to it, like how and what you are wearing and everything. So, I am getting a lot of attention. Let’s see now how the experience turns out to be.

At what point of Kennedy’s narration you thought I want to do this film?

When Anurag Kashyap called (laughs). So, I was shooting for _Blurr_ in Nainital with Ajay Bahl and Taapsee Pannu. So, he just called me I picked it up and he said haan Anurag bol raha hu. Sun ek film ki script bhej raha hu aur tu padhle or bata karega ya nahi karega. And I was like yeh sawaal Anurag Kashyap kisi actor se pooch kaise sakta hai? (Anurag Kashyap called me and said, ’listen, I am sending you a script. Read and tell me whether you want to it or not.’ And I was like how can he ask this question to any actor) For me, it’s like he should say you are doing this film. And I said ok but I knew, it’s a rhetoric question. That was a formality. But before reading the script I knew that I am doing it because of the kind of storyteller Anurag sir is. After reading the script, ‘I called him and said sir what an amazing script you have written.’ I replied, ‘of course, sir, what kind of question you are asking?’ I came back and met him at his place and I asked him why he offered me this role. He replied, ‘When I was writing it, I could see you’ and that was the biggest compliment. It’s the biggest for any actor if Anurag Kashyap says I was imagining you while writing the script.

What process you go through to detox your onscreen intense characters?

You meet your wife and you realise (laughs). Saari duniya mithya hai, sach yehi hai. Even when I am shooting, I am not someone unlike other actors, I am not someone who is only doing acting. Even every day when I am shooting for Aspirants, Blurr, _Faadu_, SK Sir Ki Class or Kennedy, I am also doing my radio show. So, I am always connected with reality because of that. So, every day I do my complete radio show, which keeps me in the real world, never away from it.

Your first love - being RJ or actor?

Yaar, Radio is my first love! Radio got me into acting. Radio made me the person I am. Radio gives me so much of sukoon (peace). When I am acting, I am doing a part, I am always playing a part, I am not myself, my zubaan is different, my body language is different, my nuances are different from Abhilash. But when I am on radio for those four hours every day, I am just myself. And I always I have never worked because it didn’t feel like work. So, radio is my first love but yeh dusre wale love se bhi ishq thoda badh raha hai (laugh).

Has fashion dominated films at Cannes festival?

You wear anything, you become fashionable but eventually, people will talk about your performance and that proves it is a film festival. I think if people are getting invitations then what’s the problem in going in a stylish manner? It will be always about films. Our film festivals always celebrate films. You always get an award for best performance and not best dress. It is democratic, everyone has the right and we are not doing any illegal thing. At the end of the day, when you walk the red carpet, you were never asked about your performance. The first question is always, who are you wearing? As an actor, I always feel that people should talk about my performance but if someone is talking about any actor’s outfit, there shouldn’t be any problem with it.

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