Dulquer Salmaan: I didn’t need to spoil my father’s legacy

When Dulquer Salmaan was coming into the movie trade, the actor says he was combating lots of apprehension, partly on account of his personal insecurities and the strain of dwelling as much as his father and celebrity Mammootty’s legacy.

Salmaan made his display screen debut in 2012 with the crime-thriller Second Show and located large success the identical 12 months with the National Award-winning drama Ustad Hotel.

Over the years, the 35-year-old actor emerged as one of many largest stars of Malayalam cinema with movies like Anjali Menon’s Bangalore Days, Sai Pallavi-starrer Kali, Charlie, and Kurup, amongst others.

He additionally gained widespread acclaim with Mani Ratnam’s Tamil romantic comedy O Kadhal Kanmani and finally made his Hindi debut with 2018’s Karwaan, which starred Irrfan Khan.

In an interview with PTI, Dulquer Salmaan mentioned he had initially put lots of strain on himself to reside as much as his father’s title.

“I didn’t know if I’d make it. I didn’t know if I’d survive, if folks would settle for me. I had lots of apprehensions after I was coming to the trade. When you’re in your 20s, you’ve all these fears and insecurities. I used to be getting into my dad’s sneakers. Forget me, I don’t assume anybody can problem or substitute him.

“I used to feel quite under pressure because of that. Not that I had to be as good as him, but I didn’t want to embarrass him in any way or spoil that legacy. So I used to put a lot of pressure on myself over these things, I spent a lot of years like that, taking every step carefully,” the actor mentioned.

Salmaan mentioned he grew out of that strain “organically” and credited the movies that got here his manner for making him an assured artiste.

“It was destiny or divine intervention that I got some great films quite early in my career. I got to collaborate with some great directors. I got offers from other languages too and I knew these were solid films, so I tried that as well. That helped me,” he added.

Though Dulquer Salmaan began with Malayalam movies, he quickly moved to the Tamil trade with movies like Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, O Kadhal Kanmani and made his debut in Telugu with the 2018 drama Mahanati, wherein he performed veteran star Gemini Ganesan.

He had his second Bollywood launch in 2019 with The Zoya Factor reverse actor Sonam Kapoor.

None of this growth to different language industries, Salmaan mentioned, was by design.

“People ask me if it was a conscious choice to do films in several languages so that I become a ‘pan-India’ actor, but no. Just as anyone of my generation, I look for experiences. My desire was just that. I love it when I do films in Tamil, Telugu or Hindi and get to be a part of that. It has been organic and not part of some plan,” he added.

What, nonetheless, has been a particular plan is his try to often leap genres, he mentioned.

From Malayalam crime thriller Kurup, Tamil romantic comedy Hey Sinamika and his newest SonyLIV procedural drama Salute (Malayalam), Salmaan’s final three movies alone have been various.

The actor mentioned he’s conscious that his critics really feel he’s snug within the romance style, a stereotype he needs to consciously break.

“A number of the time, folks need to put you in a field. I learn feedback from my critics and the so-called haters that say, ‘Oh he always does romantic comedies, romantic characters or he can only do one thing’. I take it constructively and assume, ‘I won’t do only one kind of movie, I’ll present you’.

“If you keep surprising the audience, you will be respected. As actors, you want to live different lives through your characters. As an actor, I am aware and conscious of my lineup, I want each film to be different from the other. I genuinely want to have a great portfolio of films,” he added.

Dulquer Salmaan can be subsequent seen in filmmaker R Balki’s Chup: Revenge Of The Artist and director duo Raj & DK’s Netflix collection Guns & Gulaabs, additionally that includes Rajkummar Rao and Adarsh Gourav.