Dhaval Roy (DNA; August 3, 2019)

Gulshan Grover recently spoke to us about losing out on Bollywood projects in the pursuit of an international film career. Back then, desi filmmakers were under the impression that he would either ask for too much money or find faults with their movie plots.

However, it’s a different story today. The actor asserts what he is doing today is interesting. “I’m extremely relevant today. I’m the main antagonist in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi, which is the biggest movie being made by him. It has Akshay Kumar and Karan Johar is the co-producer. All three of them could have got anybody for this part. But I’m doing the role,” he points out. Then, he is also the lead villain in Mahesh Bhatt’s comeback movie, Sadak 2. “I’m also the main baddie in Sanjay Gupta’s Mumbai Saga, which has a big star cast like John Abraham, Emraan Hashmi, Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty and various others,” which he says re-emphasises the pertinence of his presence in the industry.

The actor further told us that his international projects and recent Bollywood projects like Agent Vinod (2012), Bullet Raja (2013) or Hate Story 4 (2018) have given more meaning to him coming out with a book. “If I hadn’t had releases, the autobiography would have looked so bad — someone who hasn’t had a film in 10 years recounting the glorious days. Bose speakers ke zamaane mein tape recorder ki baat karne ki tarah,” he laughs.

Gulshan took the bold step of building a career abroad while staying in India.

But in his opinion, the obscurity that a foreign industry accords scares many actors from going there. “The anonymity is a strange and, at the same time, humbling experience,” he concludes.