Exclusive! Rahul Bose: I don’t want to be a part of stupid, empty, meaningless and sometimes misogynistic cinema

Rahul Bose is an actor who has often been associated with art cinema even when he has done his fair share of commercial movies. He has been a part of movies like Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Dil Dhadakne Do but the actor is also known for Mr. And Mrs. Iyer, I Am and Poorna. In fact, Rahul is known to lean more towards art cinema.

Currently seen in Eternally Confused and Eager For Love, the actor said that all of his decisions have been a conscious and calculated one. “Every single decision I've made has been calculated and conscious. I have consciously done a bulk of work in arthouse cinema. Some of my work has been mainstream genre cinema like a romantic-comedy like Pyaar Ke Side Effects, a courtroom drama like Shaurya, the typical buddy flick like Jhankar Beats,” he recalled.

When we asked him if he wanted to be known as an actor who works in indie cinema, the actor added, “I wanted to see what genre mainstream-driven cinema is and if you notice, I've hardly repeated myself in the mainstream. Most of my work has been arthouse because I like to expect the unexpected. I like the audience to do that.”

People in Bollywood usually tend to lean towards mainstream cinema. Thus, artists who support artistic cinema could suffer. We asked Rahul if that was his case too and he said, “Has this affected my career? Of course, it has, but exactly the way I wanted. I don't want mainstream roles. I don't want stupid, empty, meaningless and sometimes misogynistic cinema.”

He, however, defended Zoya Akhtar’s movies. The actor was a part of her film, Dil Dhadakne Do. In the movie, Rahul played a small role of Priyanka Chopra’s husband.

“Zoya's films are big mainstream films but they all carry a much deeper ideological meaning which I resonate with. My career has been entirely designed by how I wanted it - the roles I want and how I want people to perceive me,” he mentioned.

Rahul Bose made his OTT debut with Anushka Sharma’s Bulbbul, which released in 2020. Since then, he has worked in Bombay Begums, Bengali series REKKA (Hoichoi) and is now seen in Eternally Confused and Eager for Love.