The first look of Bejoy Nambiar's Tu Yaa Main, starring actor Adarsh Gourav alongside debutante Shanaya Kapoor is just out. Come June, the actors will begin shooting the survival thriller that sees two social media content creators trying to outdo each other while making a video in a Mumbai lake, unaware of a crocodile lurking in the water.
Gourav's choice of the film is rather interesting, and also something that follows a pattern - that of his innate ability to choose and embrace scripts that are different, offer something new than what he's performed before and ensures it has appeals across age groups. Going by his filmography over the years, with The White Tiger, Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, Extraction, and the immensely appealing and gripping, Superboys of Malegaon which released last year, it is evident how he's embraced unconventional roles while breaking away from traditional hero archetypes.
He plays Balram Halwai in The White Tiger, choosing to take on a complex, nuanced character that and adding significant heft to it, he doesn't mind giving a nod to a character arc that places him firmly as an anti-hero, and a morally ambiguous character in films that follow. By playing characters that thrive in shades of grey, Adarsh demonstrates the importance of exploring the human condition in all its complexity and it is here that his contemporaries might want to take a lesson or two when it comes to selecting their projects.
When, in a recent interview, THE WEEK asked him how he rated himself as an actor, he spoke without mincing words. "I have always been a keen observer and have been driven by curiosity in my life. I don't even know why I was acting for the first seven to eight years. I don't have an answer to that. I was on autopilot I guess. I didn't know if I was good at it and if I wanted to do it, I was just going with the flow."
And most of his acting back then was part of advertisements. He was not doing full fledged films. But then he went to drama school and trained himself to be an actor between 2016 and 2017, where he learnt the craft at DSA Mumbai. He began learning the techniques, understanding character arcs, and the learning grew further when he began working with Anurag Kashyap, Sajid Ali, and others. "I think drama school played a huge impression on my life," he said.
Basking in the critical success of Superboys of Malegaon, Gourav says how he's prioritised storytelling over commercial appeal, with narratives that tackle themes like class struggle, corruption, and social inequality, along with, "of course being convincingly appealing".
Gourav is that actor who isn't running the race; he is moving at his own pace and doing his own thing. He has studied music and drama and hopes to soon take hands-on lessons in direction. ‘Always be open to work with other filmmakers and actors, bearing in mind their work, not how the box office views them’, seems to be the mantra by which Gourav looks at "building his strengths". Citing his wishlist, he says, "I would love to work with Dev Patel, Mindy Kaling and Vikramaditya Motwane, Zoya Akhtar and be directed by Farhan Akhtar who is a fantastic storyteller," he told THE WEEK.
