Fans of Kumud Mishra might get bowled over by the subtleties he brings to his performances, but the acclaimed actor says the trick is more in his timing than his craft. “To be honest, I don’t do anything different. But because I come on screen after regular intervals, people forget my past work!” he jokes. The actor is currently seen in Netflix’s latest series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack.
On a long day of promotions, when Indianexpress.com met Kumud Mishra, the actor was tired but surprisingly chatty, as he spoke about his career which started in mid 90s, earning him praise for his performances in projects like Tripling, Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar, Mulk, Dr Arora, Patiala House, among others.
When asked if he is lazy in his career, Mishra responded, “Yes. Except for acting, I am very lazy in everything. This (acting) is the only thing that excited me, otherwise I can sleep for months, eat for months! Sometimes I find breathing also very taxing, that why do you have to do so much work?! But because I am in this profession, life becomes exciting. Ye bahana hai jeene ka (this is the reason why I live). You shouldn’t take this very seriously either. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
The actor was joined by two of his IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack co-stars Vijay Varma and Dia Mirza. On the Anubhav Sinha directed show, Kumud Mishra is seen sharing screen space with acting heavyweights like Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Arvind Swamy, Manoj Pahwa, Aditya Srivastava and Kanwaljit Singh, among others.
While the passengers deal with the harrowing hijacking experience, the show deep dives into the various backdoor communication involved in resolving the crisis. These scenes, in particular, feature the mighty ensemble all together.
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“I was just observing them. They are such accomplished artistes; all you have to do is just absorb,” Kumud Mishra said about being in the frame with other titans.
“This happens rarely, when you are part of an ensemble such as this. Like, before a scene, you’d know how they’d perform and yet when the camera starts rolling, they’d so something that would just surprise you. They do all of this effortlessly, which I think if I attempted, my efforts would have been visible. To learn like this is important for any actor.”
While many actors often complain about being stereotyped in the industry, Mishra has a different take. The actor obviously believes getting typecast is not in his hands, but he will take up similar roles and make an effort that all are different in the way he portrays them.
“See, I need to run my kitchen. If I am privileged to be given an option to choose from, I will do that. To make that character interesting is my job. If I am given the opportunity to play three cops, and I have no other options, it is my responsibility to ensure that all three are different from each other. I can’t complain that the industry is typecasting me. If you give the same characters to three different actors, the result will be three brand new characters.
“If you don’t have the ability to play these parts distinctly, then why are you an actor? Yes, if you don’t feel like taking up (on paper) similar parts because you feel saturated, that’s a personal choice.”
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