‘Cinema and audience have gone beyond screen time’
Riding high on the success of his latest release, Chhichhore, actor Tahir Raj Bhasin is content with the choices he has made on the work front. Though he had a limited screen time in the film that had an ensemble cast, Tahir says he doesn’t mind taking up interesting and integral characters even if they have lesser visibility.
“I feel the cinema and audience have gone beyond screen time, and things like who is coming from which city. As long as the character acts as a catalyst in the story, (and is) someone who makes it more interesting on the celluloid, while keeping the audience guessing what’s going on with your character, that’s what I feel kicked about. I feel it is always better to leave the audience wanting for more,” says Tahir.
When it comes to selecting films, he says, “I look at who the director is and how the part that I’m playing is going to drive the story forward.”
What was it about Chhichhore that he liked the most? The actor shares, “The thought that ‘Never let anyone define what is a win or a loss for you’ is close to my heart. And the friends that you make at the beginning of your school or college days are the ones who are true and real close ones. These two thoughts stand-out in the movie and I can relate to this because the friends that I made when I first came to Mumbai are the same people who I would ask for feedback because they are the most genuine and honest ones.”
From the start of his career, Tahir made a conscious decision to never get typecast in a role. “Mardaani (2014) was a crime drama, Force 2 (2016) was an action thriller, Manto (2018) was a biopic on a famous writer and Chhichhore is a college drama. I like to surprise myself by playing diverse roles. I’m someone who gets bored with routine very quickly. That’s why I like to keep it different every time,” says the actor, who shared screen with Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor and Varun Sharma, among others, in his latest.
Manto (2018) was a biopic on a famous writer and Chhichhore is a college drama... I’m someone who gets bored with routine very quickly. That’s why I like to keep it different every time. TAHIR RAJ BHASIN ACTOR