Exclusive! Gulshan Devaiah: I would love to do Rudraprayag with Rishab Shetty if it is revived

Actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty had announced Rudraprayag in 2020, with Gulshan and Shraddha Srinath, but then decided to go ahead with Kantara instead

Gulshan Devaiah

In early 2020, Kannada actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty officially announced his next directorial as a film called Rudraprayag, which would bring Bengaluru boy but Bollywood actor Gulshan Devaiah to home ground. But shortly after, the pandemic struck and then Rishab could not get started with the film because veteran actor Anant Nag was to be a part of it and there were restrictions on having senior citizens on set. Eventually, Rishab began working on a different film, Kantara, the success of which has meant that he may not revisit the subject of Rudraprayag in the foreseeable future.

Missed opportunity of working with Rishab Shetty

In Bengaluru to promote his upcoming Netflix show Guns & Gulaabs, which drops on August 18 , Gulshan tells us that Rishab was extremely apologetic when their collaboration did not work out. “When we first met through a common friend, we discussed a couple of ideas, one of which was Rudraprayag. He announced it and we were all set to go on floors, but then it was first delayed because of rains, which caused location issues and then the pandemic struck. Subsequently, I don’t really know what happened, but the project just fizzled out. But Rishab was very apologetic because he had brought the film to me. I told him it was fine, because things like this tend to happen – the nature of our business is that sometimes everything is good and the next day, it all goes bad. And, of course, after Kantara, everyone wants to make a film with him, so I am not sure if he will revive this project. If he does, I’d love to work with him on it, or if he has anything else in mind,” says Gulshan.

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In love with Hindi cinema

The actor is quick to add that as much as he’d like to do a Kannada film at some point, his first love is and will always be Hindi cinema. “I fell in love with Hindi cinema when I was, say, six years old. It was only when a journalist in Mumbai asked me about my Bengaluru roots and why I’d not done a film back home that it struck me that such a possibility had not occurred to me. It’s like, as a kid, when you fall in love with something, nothing else matters,” he adds. Unlike a lot of other actors from south India, who begin with vernacular movies and then move to Bollywood, Gulshan was always clear that his trajectory had to start with Hindi movies. “My parents were big-time Hindi movie fans and Hindi cinema music had a very special place in our household. They used to sing all the time, which they still do and then through music I fell in love with Hindi cinema, which became a childhood dream and then, at some point in 2006 I decided that I should give it a shot. It still took me a couple of years and I moved to Mumbai only in 2008. Thankfully, I met some great people who gave me good opportunities and that’s how I got started,” says Gulshan.

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