Darshan Kumar may have been a part of many acclaimed and challenging projects like Mary Kom, NH10, Sarabjit and The Family Man series, but the actor says his latest film The Kashmir Files has given him the toughest role of his career. In the Vivek Agnihotri directorial, Darshan, who plays a struggling Kashmiri youth trying to find out the truth behind the death of his parents and brother, says He almost went into depression during the shoot.
The Kashmir Files is a story based on video interviews of the first generation of victims of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. The film also stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi and Puneet Issar.
Darshan told News18, “I watched a lot of videos that were available in the public domain to get into the skin of my character, Krishna Pandit. I had to live every incident that happened to Krishna Pandit and his family. It was very painful. I almost slipped into depression. I was always low. I tried to be in character all the time, even when I was in the hotel and rested. I had to be fine on any given night while shooting this movie Couldn’t sleep. I had to meditate for three weeks after finishing the film because I wanted to come out of it. So, it took a toll on me. But I think now all this is due to the audience giving a standing ovation to the film. Has been repaid with. Nationwide,” says Darshan.
Darshan recalls how he was shaken after Vivek Agnihotri narrated the script to The Kashmir Files to him. “I remember I got a call from casting director Taran Bajaj who said that Vivek sir is very keen to cast you in his film. Then I met Pallavi ma’am in her office and she showed me videos of real victims. He had traveled all over the world and documented direct accounts of victims whose mothers were raped or family members brutally killed. It shook me from inside. After watching those videos, I couldn’t speak a word.”
He adds, “Later, he gave me the script and while reading it, I felt the same pain that I had seen in those videos because Vivek sir portrayed all those events in the screenplay so incredibly that I was mesmerized. happened. Whatever we are showing in the film is in the public domain and I feel very guilty for not knowing about it. We only knew that Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir because they were not comfortable living there. We didn’t know the reality. This film is showing reality and that’s why we are getting such amazing response.”
Before The Kashmir Files, the actor had made headlines for his intense portrayal of Major Sameer from Pakistan in The Family Man series. In the show, Darshan’s character plans several attacks on Indian soil as a part of Mission Zulfiqar. The actor had received a lot of hate messages for his role in the spy-thriller series.
Talking about the duel between Major Sameer and Krishna Pandit, Darshan says, “When I play a character I don’t see it as positive or negative. I just see them as human beings who have feelings and have a definite goal in life. I try to focus on that. We always believe that whatever we are doing is right. So that’s what I did with Major Sameer. We were supposed to show his back story but we didn’t. His father was killed during the war between India and Pakistan, so he had his own motto (for revenge) and that is what he believed and did.”
“As Darshan, I can judge Major Sameer that he is not a good man because he is doing brutal acts, but I need to be convinced while performing him, and only then will the audience be convinced. That’s what I did for Krishna Pandit in The Kashmir Files. I try to be genuine and passionate at all times. I always feel like I’m the leader and I’m driving everything (laughs). Krishna is a very irritable person full of complex thoughts and Major Sameer has a different kind of confidence as he has committed thousands of wrongdoings. Krishna is like us youths who are confused and fed up with different stories. Although we try to find the truth, it always remains hidden. I think Krishna Pandit was the toughest role for me as an actor,” concluded Darshan.
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