Want to do more films, but scripts aren’t good enough: Deepak Dobriyal
He has mostly portrayed the character of a friend, brother or neighbour in Bollywood films. But Deepak Dobriyal knows how to hold his own, and stand out even in an ensemble cast. That’s why his onscreen characters — Rajoh Tiwari (Omkara; 2006), Mamdu halwai (Delhi-6; 2009) and Pappi (Tanu Weds Manu series) — have resonated with the audience. And, the actor says, it’s also why he doesn’t mind playing supporting roles.
Dobriyal recalls, “I started in Mumbai with one scene in a film. I had just one dialogue in Maqbool (2003), my first film. I’d do a few scenes here and there, but even then, I’d put my all into those small roles. I’d spend months rehearsing. When I started getting bigger roles, I never stopped putting in effort and never compromised.”
The actor feels it was his dedication that filmmakers took note of, which resulted in good work coming his way. “I keep doing something different in the scenes, and keep improvising. I’m fully committed to the character I play because I want to do justice to it,” adds the actor, who’s being appreciated for his performance in the recently released films Angrezi Medium and Kaamyaab.
The 44-year-old wants to increase the pace of his work, but paucity of good roles isn’t letting him do so. “Achhe roles milna bahut challenging hai. It doesn’t come to you every day. There are many actors like me, and they also want to do the same kind of roles. So, I’ve to do with what comes my way. I do one film a year aur ussi se ghar chalata hoon. I can’t do two films at one time because I tend to lose focus,” he says.
But, Dobriyal is quick to add that he is unable to find “good enough” scripts and hopes that writers come up with some interesting characters for him. “I’ve built a reputation (of being) someone who puts his heart and soul into a role. That’s my USP! I can’t lose quality over quantity. However, only if we had good writers, things would be different. There are only 10 good writers when there should be at least 30-40. Only when they write good roles, would we be able to play them, and I could do three to four films a year,” he says.
Juhi Chakraborty