Gulshan Devaiah, who has featured in films like Hate Story and Shaitan, is all set to don his bad guy avatar again, this time for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela. The actor, who plays Deepika Padukone’s cousin in the film, says, “Casting director Shruti Mahajan spotted me. She arranged a meeting with Mr Bhansali who had not seen a single film of mine. He was looking at me with a director’s eye and by the end of the meeting he finalised me for the part. I didn’t have to audition for it.”

The actor reveals his first meeting with co-star Deepika Padukone was an interesting one too. He reveals, “I am good friends with my Shaitan co-star Kalki Koechlin. She was shooting for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and invited me over to the sets. I went and sat near the monitor next to Deepika but was tongue-tied. I wanted to say something intelligent and didn’t want to make a fool of myself. My dilemma finally ended when she initiated the conversation and said hello. I then told her that I’m in Ram- Leela too.”
While the actor’s big break came with Shaitan he says filming it wasn’t an easy experience. He reveals, “The most horrifying moments were the underwater shots as I can barely swim. Bejoy would make us shoot at the deep end of the pool as you get the best camera angle there. Every time I would almost drown somebody would grab my hand. Once I almost drifted away and Kalki rescued me.”

While Gulshan is all set to be the new bad guy in Bollywood and shares his name with iconic villain Gulshan Grover, he tells us that he is often confused with the veteran actor. “He is definitely a legend and I respect him. I am often confused with him because of my name. When Yash Chopra passed away, from 8 am to midnight, I got calls asking for my reactions since Gulshan Grover had worked with him.”

The actor reveals he has had no formal training in acting but puts his theatre experience to use in his films as well. “I had no formal training and didn’t know how to put it across to my parents that I want to take up acting as a career. I started out by working with theatre practitioners in Bengaluru. I worked on a lot of different and breathtaking folk theatre where I had to learn art forms like Kalaripayattu and Kathakali and I still use a lot of that experience for my film characters.”

Theatre has also played another important role in the actor’s life with him meeting wife Kallirroi Tziafeta, through it. He says, “My wife is an actress too and I met her during a play in Lucknow. That day I was filling in for Neil Bhopalam who didn’t have dates for a play he was doing . My now wife knew some people connected to the play so she came to watch the show and that’s where someone introduced us. We kept in touch after that and after some time I proposed marriage.”

While Gulshan has been appreciated for his negative roles he says that Ram-Leela may just be his last film as a villain. He says, “I have no plans of sticking to my bad guy image. Ram- Leela is my last role as a villain. I have just completed film, which is a romantic comedy. I have signed two films with Pooja Bhatt and these parts are not negative roles either. I never thought I’d make something my niche. I aim to be different. I have four films coming up which are different from each other. There is a possibility of being typecast but I wish to break away from that.”

source: http://www.asianage.com / The Asian Age / Home> Life and Style / by Natasha Coutinho, The Asian Age / November 05th, 2013

It’s been five years since actress Harshika Poonacha has been in Sandalwood, playing roles ranging from supporting actress to being a part of multi-starrers. The actress, who not long ago made the transition to playing lead heroine, recently bagged her first-ever state award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Shivarajkumar-starrer Thamassu. And that, the actress says, has taken her career to the next level. “No more supporting roles. I’ve arrived as a solo actress,” she says. Excerpts from the interview:

What are the challenges you faced in the industry?
In my five years in Sandalwood, I have maintained a decent track record. While my initial films saw me paired with newcomers, I wanted to work with top heroes like Puneeth Rajkumar and Shivarajkumar. I got to work with them, but as their sister. I have no complaints, though, as I was able to perform well in the roles that I got. I wanted to establish myself as a solo lead, as I was getting only roles to play the hero’s sister. In fact, I missed out on playing the female lead opposite Puneeth because I had played his sister in Jackie. It was a challenge to break free of that image.

You rarely make it to the gossip columns even though you are quite the party animal. But when you did, it was after a spat with Aviva Bidapa over who had the meatier role in Ale…
I don’t want to comment about it. Once the film released, it became clear just who had the better role. This is exactly why I don’t want to do multi-starrers. In fact, my upcoming films — B-3 and an upcoming Telugu film (which marks her Telugu debut) — will see me playing solo female lead. As for the partying bit, well, I have a group of friends who I am close to. I don’t party with people from the industry, but I am nice to people when I meet them at filmi events and share a cordial relationship with everyone. Jealousy comes when you know them too well. I’d like to party and stay close only with my friends.

Tell us about your role in B-3…
It is the most special film in my career. B-3 revolves around three characters — hero, heroine and one more character (which will be the suspense). Sriki (Srikanth) plays a psychopath and I play a college student. I fall in love with him and what happens then forms the crux of the story. Since Sriki’s character is mentally unstable, he gets physically abusive with me. Throughout the film, we compete against each other and both of us had a lot of scope to perform. In fact, Ghana Shyam ( director) didn’t even allow us to talk to each other. I also did a lot of stunts in the film, which is one of the highlights. I have just won a state award and this role will definitely elevate me to the next level. In fact, I am hoping to receive an award for my performance in B-3.

You have also done some intimate scenes in the film…
I have taken a lot of risk for this film and one among them is the intimate scene. I have kissed and even did lovemaking scenes for the first time. I asked Ghana if it was really required for the film and he convinced me that it is important. I just trusted him and went ahead with the scene. We shot for nearly half a day and the scene appears for just 15 seconds in the film. I was comfortable doing lovemaking scenes. Ghana showed me the edited version and I must say that it looks more romantic than vulgar.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Regional> Kannada / by Sharanya CR / November 02nd, 2013