Durgesh Kumar, who says that he has no dates for two years after the popularity of Panchayat, claims that he was once forced to take up a role in an erotic drama called Virgin Bhasskar, that he described as “soft porn.” The actor, who has become a fan favourite for his boldness and rawness in Panchayat as Bhushan aka Banrakas, played the role of Bhatuknath in two seasons of Virgin Bhasskar, backed by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefims. In a chat with indianexpress.com, the actor said, “Meri majboori thi. (I was helpless)”
Despite having worked with Imtiaz Ali in his film Highway, and a few others after that, there was a time when Durgesh was struggling to get work. In desperate need of money, the actor took up a role in Virgin Bhasskar. “I wouldn’t say I was forced to do soft porn, it was just that I was optionless and in desperate need of money so I had to take up that job. This was after I played a role in Highway. I didn’t have enough roles or work coming my way after that. Hence, I acted in two seasons of this show called Virgin Bhaskar. But, I can assure you I haven’t done anything shady in the show. I am an actor, and I knew my capabilities. I just worked with honesty.”
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Durgesh, who was also seen playing interesting roles in recently released films Bhakshak and Laapataa Ladies, stressed on the fact that acting is not an easy job. He said, “It is impossible to crack Indian film industry. Not everyone is lucky. I have seen people who have been struggling for the past 40-50 years to get a break in the industry. They all end up doing small roles and nobody takes up such shows with choice. At least I didn’t, it was my helplessness that made me work in that series.”
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During his struggling phase, Durgesh faced depression twice in his life. The man who travelled from Bihar to Delhi to prepare for IIT had no plans of becoming an actor. On his brother’s advise, the actor joined theatre “for personality development.” Durgesh had no background in acting but started to enjoy his time at the theatre and eventually became passionate about it. He said, “I didn’t know English much, but I was extremely good at Hindi, so theatre started to interest me. Eventually, I bagged a job in NSD. My first salary was Rs 24,000. I worked in NSD for 1.5 years, until I was terminated for acting in Highway. These are some rules National School Of Drama follows, and we can’t help it but respect it.”
Durgesh says there has been some improvement in the casting process in the last few years but said that he isn’t being offered any good projects. “They are mostly independent films. Not commercial. I am trying to work my way up through these projects. I have no dates for next two years.”
Durgesh Kumar’s Panchayat, directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra, also stars Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, Faisal Malik, Raghubir Yadav, Pankaj Jha, Chandan Roy and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles. The series’ third season released on May 28 on Amazon Prime Video.
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