Dulquer Salmaan Unveils His Experiences with Bollywood Pressure:"If You Don’t Look Like a Big Star, You Won’t even Get a Chair"

Dulquer Salmaan, an actor who made his presence felt in Bollywood with Karwaan (2018) starring Irrfan Khan, and Mithila Palkar, has unreservedly talked about the hardships he met during Hindi cinema dawn. In a recent roundtable talk with Rana Daggubati, Archana Kalpathi, and Vikramaditya Motwane, the Malayalam superstar unveiled the distasteful truth of the matter that "the treatment of an actor in Bollywood is influenced by the perception."

Dulquer Salmaan was ‘pushed Around’ on Hindi Film Sets

Dulquer shared his thoughts quite frankly in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India:

"While I was doing Hindi films, I took just two members from my crew with me and we were on the sets going to and fro. To get along fine, I had to create the scenario of a big star — otherwise, I wouldn’t even be granted a chair to sit."

The Sita Ramam actor said that in some locations he was treated like a ghost. With numerous departments, big crews, and heavy people in charge, getting access behind the monitor became a problem.

DQ claims that the industry links stardom and looks—the driving in lavish cars, entering with a big entourage, or having a certain charismatic presence.

"It’s all about the perception," he added, and expressed his sadness that the actors have to spend their energy on creating a persona instead of being focused solely on their performance.

"The industry's bulk gives birth to its culture"—Dulquer's take on Bollywood's enormous size

Dulquer opined that the vastness of the Hindi film industry might be one reason behind this culture.

He elaborated that Bollywood has to serve many states and a huge audience while South sectors usually work on a smaller scale.Dulquer and Rana were talking about how Hindi films are great. Theatres, markets, and languages are vast. We consider ourselves the centre of the universe just because we come from 1 or 2 states. It is possible that the industry’s size influences matters.

Dulquer, however, not only challenged but also showed great respect when he, in speaking for himself, referred to a cultural difference that is the actors’ lot, and, then, said that his main purpose was not to “criticise” any industry but to make the difference “more tangible” through the actors’ experiences.

On the work front: From Kaantha to I’m Game

Dulquer’s last performance was in Kaantha, a period mystery drama set in the 1950s and directed by Selvamani Selvaraj. He was the lead star TK Mahadevan involved in an intricate, difficult relationship with his teacher, Ayya.

After a murder occurs on the set, the film goes from a character drama to a gripping mystery, along with the whole cast and crew being pulled into suspicion.

Next, DQ is preparing for the action entertainer I'm Game, directed by RDX filmmaker Nahas Hidhayath, which is a project that fans are looking forward to eagerly.