Actor Dulquer Salmaan believes he needs to grow beyond the “romantic hero” image and let the maturity he has attained with age, reflect in his choice of roles. Salmaan has starred in romance dramas such as Mani Ratnam’s Tamil hit, OK Kanmani, and Sita Ramam, and The Zoya Factor, in Hindi, in his career of over 10 years. The actor, who turned 37 last month, said that he would like to explore action in the next decade of his life. “I have realised that, [in] this next decade of my life, I can’t survive as a romantic hero. I am turning 40 now, it is time to kick a**. I don’t want to be boxed into any genre. I want to keep pushing myself, and, anything that scares me is where I want to be.” His upcoming Malayalam film, King on Kotha, in which he plays an alcoholic gangster, is his first major outing as an action hero. “I have never been known to do action; it is very difficult. There are four to five fights in this movie, but it is also interesting to be in that zone, in terms of look and character,” he added.

Off to TIFF