Ahead Of 'Kaamyaab' Release, Bollywood Directors Pick Their Favourite Character Actors!

Gauri Shinde, Anurag Kashyap, Aanand L. Rai & other Bollywood directors talk about the importance of character actors in films & share names of their favourites.

New Delhi: Produced by Shah Rukh Khan's wife Gauri Khan & starring Sanjay Mishra in lead role, upcoming film 'Kaamyaab' tells the bitter-sweet story about the character actors in Bollywood. Also featuring Deepak Dobriyal & Sarika Singh in pivotal roles, 'Kaamyaab' is directed by debutante Hardik Mehta and is slated to hit the theatres this Friday (March 6). Ahead of the film's release, popular Bollywood directors including Aanand L. Rai, Anurag Kashyap, Gauri Shinde & Rahul Dholakia went down the memory lane and talked about the importance of character actors in cinema and share their pick from the world of movies.

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Revealing his favourites, Aanand L. Rai shares, "Character actors even though not always in the main roles are responsible for setting the world of your story. Om Prakash from 'Chupke Chupke' and Lalita Pawar in 'Shri 420' are all-time favourites. Deepak Dobriyal from 'Tanu weds Manu' series is another one. The way he sketched Puppy for me was magical. He moved from humour to emotion then, back to humour like the flow of water and that’s the beauty of character actors.” Rahul Dholakia also, expresses his take and says, “For me, every actor should play a character. Be it, Shah Rukh Khan in Raees or Naseer playing Cyrus in Parzania- they all played a character. All good films have a great array of characters and artists who we call, character artists. I loved watching Utpal Dutt, Om Prakash, Pran and then, became a huge fan of actors like Paresh Rawal, Om Ji, Johnny Bhai and even Sanjay Mishra. honestly for me, all actors are equally important as each one of them makes the movie. I thought Sheeba was brilliant in Parzania and even in Raees as Shahrukh’s mother. I believe, the list of actors I love is endless.” 'Kaamyaab' Screening: Shah Rukh Khan & Other Celebs Watch Sanjay Mishra's Film! (PICS) “I believe, Utpal Dutt would always be the most memorable character actor of all time. I so wanted to make him a part of a film of mine. Especially the scene, when he gets caught wrongly in Golmaal and the way he says, ”Aap police Nahin foolish officer ho!”. Not just him but there have been phenomenal actors like Kader khan, Iftekar, Bob Christo”, shares Sujoy Ghosh. Gauri Shinde reveals, "Well, I would have a long list but to start with, there is Keshto Mukherjee!  I still remember, as a small kid, how he would be how he made me laugh and I really loved it, and also Daisy Irani. Without the character actors, it will be like having Indian food without mirchi or khatta. Rajeev Ravindranath, Ashish Bhatia, Yashaswini Dayma are my favourite character actors from my movies." Vikramaditya Motwane too shared, "Some of my favourite character actors in Hindi cinema would be Johnny Walker and Sudhir. I believe character actors have the power to bring comic relief to the entire story-telling. Mister Appu from Udaan and the Watchman from Trapped would be my other two favourites from my own films." Director Anurag Kashyap, tells, “Our industries have many talented character actors and my favourites would be Utpal Dutt and David. For me, even my protagonist is a character actor." Abhishek Chaubey shares his picks of character actors and says, “I believe, Iftekhar would be my personal favourite character actor. What a personality! They do not make men like that anymore. If he was around, I would definitely cast him! In the context of the Hindi movies of my childhood, character actors made us comfortable. The leads might change but the character actors remained constant no matter if you were watching a Bachchan film or a Navin Nischol film or a Mithun film. This familiarity made us at ease. If I were to pick from my own films, Rajesh Sharma who plays Kakkad in my first, Ishqiya would be my favourite. He is a superb actor who reminds you of the best of the character actors of a bygone era.” Along with Gauri Khan, Manish Mundra and Gaurav Verma have co-produced the film.