Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha: Negative roles do not bother me as they give a positive message

Veteran theatre personality and actor Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha, 70, is fine with playing a character that shows him as a godman convicted of sexual misconduct. The role that he plays, in the upcoming film Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, also received a notice from the followers of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu.

“The story is totally based on advocate PC Solanki (played by Manoj Bajpayee), after acquiring rights from the lawyer. As an actor, I am just playing this character of Baba and have done my job with full honesty as it’s an important role and the film is based on him,” says the actor who was last seen in Mira Nair’s TV series A Suitable Boy (2020) that was shot in Lucknow-Kanpur. He was seen essaying the role of godman in that series too.

Kulshreshtha stays unfazed by negativity such roles bring along. “When I play (or write) a role for theatre or film, whether it’s in positive or negative light, that doesn’t make any difference to me. I even featured in a rape scene in the film but then that’s character sketch. Even if it’s annoying to watch, the message this film gives is surely positive. I feel darker the roles, greater the positivity.”

To get into the skin of the character he had to research at length. “I did a lot of study to understand how with the magic of words, body language and conversations these godmen make huge following, and people start believing them blindly. I have tried not to copy anyone and tried to create a unique character.”

Kulshreshtha has been director of Bhartendu Natya Academy (BNA), Lucknow, from 2006-09 and has been the student of its founding batch in 1976 under Padma Shri Raj Bisaria. He has acted in films like Yeh Woh Manzil Toh Nahi (1986), Monsoon Shootout (2013) and Daas Dev (2018).

“Theatre keeps me very busy. I do very few films and my favourite remains a short film called The Bypass (2003) with Irfaan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui which won many international awards,” he adds.