ARM actor Kabir Duhan Singh: ‘9 years and 60-70 films later, I don’t want to…’

Model-and-actor Kabir Duhan Singh’s bearded look and ‘big frame’ is perhaps why he was seen as a perfect candidate to play villain roles. While that was not a conscious choice, Kabir went with the flow and soon became a much-sought-after antagonist in south cinema. But he always harboured the desire to break the mold and transition to protagonist roles, which he’s now got, after he got rid of his beard for his Malayalam film debut Turbo.

Speaking to RJ Mayuraa during the Bengaluru leg of the promotions of his next in Malayalam, Ajayante Randam Moshanam (ARM), Kabir said that his choice of roles in the last year-and-a-half has had a drastic shift and that he’s now looking for creative satisfaction too. His days of doing routine villain roles are behind him, he says. Kabir, as it turns out, has just finished shooting for a Hindi series that will come to Netflix, in which he is the protagonist.

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“After I got rid of my beard, I got this series and a lot of offers for work in Hindi. I am also in talks for various projects in Malayalam. In the last 9 years, I have done at least 60 films as a villain, sporting a beard and doing pretty much the same thing. In fact, I have rejected over 15 films from Bollywood because I don’t want to do villain roles right now,” says the actor, adding that there was a time when he enjoyed playing baddie roles.

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The switch over did not happen overnight and Kabir had to wait a while before he was finally given a protagonist’s role. “I am done doing the stereotypical suited antagonist, who steps out of a helicopter and into a high-end car, as is often seen in Telugu films. In the last year and a half, the films I have taken up, like, ARM, for instance, have me doing something different. In ARM, I am a brutal, almost psychopathic pirate, which was challenging to pull off. I will soon start another Hindi series and my next in Malayalam is also a pan-Indian film called Marco. There’s a lot more variety in my work now,” says the actor.