Naveen Kasturia reveals people he was friends with at TVF are not there anymore, had to audition for Aspirants: ‘Just like Alia Bhatt is not a Dharma actor’

I remember what Mahesh Bhatt once said while directing, “Don’t give me a good shot. Give me a sincere shot.” That’s something I follow all the time. Don’t try to show how good an actor you have, what your emotional range is like. Just be true to who you are then. And then once I remember one of the actors was very good in the shot. But it couldn’t be printed because of some technical reason. He had praised the guy and was very happy with the shot. But he said, “You know you were very good, but don’t try to copy yourself. Just forget about that one.” And it’s true, if I repeat my shots, I come across as fake. I subconsciously follow these things till today.

After Jashn (2009), you also worked as an AD on Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010) and Shanghai (2012). Isn’t that quite a departure from Vishesh Films?

I wanted to work with Dibakar Banerjee even before I came to Mumbai. Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008) came out when I was in Mumbai during the 26/11 terror attacks. It released on November 28. Mumbai was very quiet then. I watched the film along with five others. I was a huge fan of Khosla Ka Ghosla! (2006). I’d met Rajendra Sethi, who was the property guy Vijendra in that film, who then introduced me to Dibakar. He was only working on ads then. After some time, LSD happened.

You debuted as an actor with Amit V Masurkar’s Sulemani Keeda (2014), which is a critically acclaimed film. But after TVF Pitchers (2015), you haven’t done a memorable feature film. Do you think that’s because you’ve been slotted as a web actor?

Yes, even the TV actors have faced this bias, and still do today. Slotting is very common in India, but you need to keep breaking that perception. A lot of people think I’m a TVF actor. But I’ve been an actor even before TVF started. I’ve only done two shows for them, along with cameos in two more. But I’ve also done 15 other shows, which haven’t worked as much as those did.

It probably also has to do with the fact that in many of your heads, you’re still a boy coming of age. Does that perception get in your way too?

Ya, that’s a constant struggle. When I did TVF Aspirants (2021), I was asked to keep a moustache. Although it was a fake one, with me performing the part of a DM (District Magistrate), I thought that finally, I’d be offered the role of a cop maybe. Because I want to see myself in different parts. But if you look at the second seasons of Pitchers and Aspirants, they’re about this man, not about a boy. The second season of Pitchers isn’t a boy next door, it’s a complicated part. It’s a man who’s under a lot of pressure and stress. The greed for power and ambition has made him a little grey. A lot of people said that for Breathe season 2 (2022) also. Salakaar is still an officer’s part. Of course, I’m firing bullets and beating up people, but I’ve played the part of an officer before, as a DM, although the stakes are higher, and it’s more commercial and conventional. But Breathe was diametrically opposite my part in Aspirants.

Do you see TVF as your work home? Do you follow when in doubt, go back to TVF?

No, I keep asking all my friends for work. People who I was friends with, they’re not really with The Viral Fever anymore. TVF isn’t a single entity. Even the two seasons of Aspirants and Pitchers were made by different sets of people. And a lot of people are not aware of the fact that I had to test for Aspirants. I didn’t work with them for six years even after Pitchers was a hit. Before that, I’d done Rowdies (spoof of Roadies) and Chai Sutta Chronicles. After Aspirants worked, then Pitchers 2 happened. They all had different teams. The director of Aspirants (Apurv Singh Karki) was the same, but he’s a freelancer. He doesn’t work at TVF. It’s a production house. So, who should I even ask for work at TVF? Somebody was telling me that Alia Bhatt has done a lot of her work with Dharma Productions. But that doesn’t make her a Dharma actor. At least she’s friends with the producer (Karan Johar). That’s not the case with me. It’s just a professional equation now.

Also Read — ‘Hema Malini nahi milegi’: What Sholay director Ramesh Sippy told Dharmendra when he insisted on playing Gabbar or Thakur

So, you don’t mind asking for work?

Post Pitchers, I thought I’d never have to ask for work again. But that’s not happened yet. Anurag Kashyap once told me to stay in touch. I get that because there are so many actors. If you meet makers when they’re casting, they’ll keep you in mind. Even Pitchers and Aspirants, I’d asked for those roles, even though it’s assumed they were handed to me on a platter. They were considering some other actor for Pitchers, but I had to persuade them. Also, I did three rounds of auditions for Aspirants.

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