SACRIFICED MY HAIR FOR FILM ROLES: DUTT

Actor Avijit Dutt, known for his roles in Jolly LLB 2 and No One Killed Jessica, says Delhi allows him to work both in theatre and films easily

Be it a corrupt police officer in Jolly LLB 2 (2017) or a ruthless lawyer in No One Killed Jessica (2011), Avijit Dutt has always played characters that leave a lasting impression. Presently working on a solo play, Dutt says that being in Delhi helps him dabble in both theatre and films with ease. “The advantage of being in Delhi is you can reject films that don’t work with your politics,” says the actor.

Recollecting his portrayal of a police commissioner Jolly LLB 2, he says that the the story behind him accepting the role isn’t known to many. “My daughter, Avalokita, works in Bollywood and never tells anybody whose daughter she is. When the director of the film, Subhash Kapoor, said to her that he was looking for me, she said to her, ‘If you want to know, he’s my father.’

So Subhash and my daughter came to Delhi to narrate the script and I found it fantastic. For the first time, we had the credits at the beginning of the film as father and daughter and that was wonderful.”

It isn’t always the depth of a character that excites Dutt; sometimes it’s the possibility of fanboy moments. “I accepted the film 2.0 (2017) only with the curiosity of meeting Rajinikanth,” says Dutt, adding, “I was just a fanboy and he was such a wonderful human.

The first time we met, he talked about how he had seen my films, such as No One Killed Jessica, and then we talked about the Himalayas. He shared that he goes up to the Himalayas every year, incognito. For the film, I’d to learn three pages of a difficult Tamil script!”

On the sets, he was enjoying playing a grey-haired man, but off the sets, he had to change his hair colour. Dutt, says, “In Jolly… I was doing a completely negative character, with black hair and in 2.0, I was acting with my grey hair.

So, I had to keep switching hair colours. That was horrible! Whatever little hair I had have been sacrificed to that experience.”