Aditya Roy Kapur: Director creating remake must have a strong take

Aditya Roy Kapur

There is no pressure like that of the box office. But to Aditya Roy Kapur, whose Gumraah hits the screens today, the joy of one's movie playing in cinemas far exceeds the nervousness about box-office results. "I grew up watching films in theatres. When you become an actor, it is one of the reasons that excites you. A big-screen release comes with an added edge; you want people to come out in large numbers and watch it [because] when something works in a theatre, it's much more gratifying. It's a pressure one has to revel in," he begins.

Vardhan Ketkar

Vardhan Ketkar's directorial venture, also starring Mrunal Thakur, is a crime thriller - a genre that the leading man loves. But Kapur had another reason to give his nod to the project. It threw at him the challenge of playing a double role. "Gumraah kept me constantly engaged, it was two steps ahead of me. The opportunity to play a double role in this genre was unique because you mostly see double roles in lighter films. Here, the distinction between the two characters was present in the writing itself. That said, playing two roles was still tricky. Leading up to the shoot of a film, your energies are channelled towards one character. But here, while [I was] preparing for one, I realised that I had to think about the other too," he says.

Gumraah

Incidentally, Gumraah is Kapur's second remake of the year. In February, the actor enjoyed wide praise for The Night Manager, an adaptation of Tom Hiddleston's 2016 British series of the same name. His latest, which revolves around two lookalikes who are the primary suspects in a murder case, is a remake of the Tamil hit, Thadam (2019). With the audience being exposed to films belonging to different languages thanks to the OTT revolution, one can argue that adaptations don't hold as much charm today. But Kapur views it differently. "The director creating the remake must have a strong take. Even though Vardhan is a first-time director, he had his own vision for the film. He retained the things he liked in the original, and [brought in] things that he wanted to add. The characterisations and geography felt different. I aligned with his conviction."

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Is an adaptation of the 2019 Tamil film, Thadam