Debutant Gurfateh Singh Pirzada recently entered the world of Hindi films with the highly anticipated Netflix release, Guilty. Directed by Ruchi Narain and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, it delves deep into sensitive topics of sexual abuse and the #MeToo movement. A dream debut for any aspiring actor. However, there was a catch or as Gurfateh tells us, a double-edged sword. For his very first film, he was playing the role of a cold-blooded antagonist with a charismatic college heartthrob’s appeal — Vijay Pratap Singh aka VJ. “It was a challenge as I asked myself if this film is the right first move. I might get hated and one does not know how the audience will perceive it, as the topic was sensitive.” Eventually, it was the pros that outweighed the cons by a huge margin. He shares that although he vetted quite a few scripts, he chose this one as it was an important subject, produced by Karan and directed by Ruchi.“I thought, why not! People might have hated my character in bits, but I gave it my best shot,” says the actor, who has a six-year stint in theatre behind him. He calls himself a ‘prep maniac’, given his background and explains why he took the preparation for his role quite seriously. “Ruchi was stressed about how I will do justice to it because I am like a wallflower, whereas if VJ walks into a room, everyone is watching him,” elaborates Gurfateh. He eventually pulled it off and says he is thankful that he didn’t receive any hate mails. Rather, he was inundated with heaps of praise for his role!
Talking about the rapport he shared with the cast members, he says it was a fun learning experience. “Kiara Advani is quite a big star in India. So that was great! Akansha (Ranjan Kapoor) and Taher (Shabbir) are also so hard working. We shared a lot of breakfasts and strolls at Khan Market in Delhi,” he says. Not many know that he also happens to be the younger brother of popular South Indian actress Mehreen Pirzada, who was present at the show’s premiere. “Mehreen loved it. There were so many days when I felt I couldn’t act, but my sister and parents were confident I could,” shares the Mumbai-based actor. He signs off with a few words about his next big step in Bollywood, Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra, where he plays a character with superpowers. He admits, “I can’t say much, but it is a pivotal character in the fantasy story. I did a lot of action training for the film and share screen space with Amitabh Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor.”
Guilty is now streaming on Netflix.
(With inputs from Heena Khandelwal)