Dulquer Salmaan says he was ‘petrified’ of camera, feared comparisons to father Mammootty

Dulquer Salmaan, who completed a decade in the entertainment industry this year, used to work at a construction company in Dubai before he decided to become an actor. The actor shared that he grew up being ‘petrified’ of the camera and the stage and harboured a lot of self-doubt about his skills as an actor. He was also afraid about the comparisons that will be made between him and his father– popular Malayalam actor and filmmaker Mammootty. Also Read| Dulquer Salmaan says his first paycheck at 10 had no ‘nepotism advantage’

Dulquer worked at the construction company for two and a half years before he realised he did not enjoy an office job and wanted to pursue acting. He enrolled in a three-month course at the Barry John Acting Studio in Mumbai and later made his debut with the 2012 Malayalam action drama Second Show. He also went on to act in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi language films.

In a recent conversation with Curly Tales, Dulquer revealed the reason he had been working in Dubai in a construction company despite coming from a film family and having an interest in acting. He said, “I thought I would not make it. Nobody will want to watch me. I thought I couldn’t act, I used to be petrified of the stage and the camera. Not for anything, but this constant sort of self-doubt and fear of comparison to my father. So I thought I would steer completely off.”

The actor added, “Then I realised I am not happy doing this. I am not an office, 9 to 5 kind of person, it doesn’t give me any joy. It feels like work. And when I started making short films with friends who were trying to get into the movies, and who had no film background, I was like ‘man you guys have the guts. Why am I being so scared?’ So one day I quit everything, I flew to Bombay, I went to Barry John. Then it just snowballed from there.”

Dulquer also recalled that while he was in Mumbai studying at Barry John, he also met casting agents from Bollywood. However, he had a terrible eye infection for which he had to move back to Kochi, and he left the idea of Bollywood behind. The actor later made his Hindi film debut with the 2018 film Karwaan which also starred Mithila Palkar and late actor Irrfan Khan.