Purab debuts on stage
Versatile actor Purab Kohli made his debut on television nearly a decade ago, and recently won audiences’ heart in a dance reality show, is taking a step further and is now acting in a play called Trivial Disasters, alongside Kalki Koechlin and Richa Chad
Bollywood actor Purab Kohli makes his debut in a play called Trivial Disasters
After having spent over a decade in the entertainment industry, Purab Kohli has managed to collect many a varied feather in his neat little cap. Starting out with Hip Hip Hurray on television, eight years of VJ- ing and some much appreciated roles in much appreciated films later, he is all set to make his debut on a medium that was until recently entirely unfamiliar to him: theatre. All set to join Kalki Koechlin, Richa Chadda and Cyrus Sahukar on stage for the first time in Atul Kumar’s new play, Trivial Disasters, he talks to us about why he gave up his dream to be a pilot at the age of 17, why mediums other than cinema are always a welcome platform for him as an actor and what lies ahead.
“I wanted to be a pilot at a time when the airline industry was having a real low. Jobs were a very real problem and there came a point after joining flight school when I felt that investing this kind of money and time on something that might not actually give me a secure job made very little sense. I decided to go back to college to figure life out, but since that would happen only in June, I had about seven odd months to take up and experiment with a lot of things. I worked with a sculptor, thought about hotel management and even took up a job at a call centre! Auditions for Hip Hip Hurray happened around then, and once I took that up I just went on and on with whatever work came my way in the field,” he recalls.
Working on weekends to make what was to him some extra pocket money at the time, he finally took up VJ- ing with Channel V full time and spent several years travelling across the country for his travel show. “By the time I was 26, I had actually been to every state in India, which was amazing. Towards the end of that phase I had also done a few films
thinking ki achha yeh bhi mil gaya toh yeh bhi kar lo . It was after My Brother Nikhil happened in 2005 that I knew that films are what I wanted to do and really focus on as a career,” he shares.
Purab maintains that he is open to all mediums if they offer him worthwhile opportunities as an actor and adds, “Acting is it, for me. Once in a while if a fun show comes along, like Life Mein Ek Baar on Fox Traveller a few years back that I couldn’t say no to, or more recently Jhalak because it gave me an opportunity to dance on a big platform, but my focus is films. I’m a little choosy though, and have often been slotted into a particular kind of film, which is something I’m trying to break out of.”
So, how did theatre happen to him? “My sole reason to do Trivial Disasters was to gain an opportunity to work with Atul Kumar. I’ve known Atul since Hip Hip Hurray and had been thinking of calling him for quite a while. Strangely, he ended up calling me during Jhalak to ask if I was interested in a play he was doing! And I’m so happy that I’m getting to do this… we’ve been rehearsing for a month and I have to admit that it’s very difficult. I don’t know if it is easier than doing films or harder, but it is completely different and a lot of hard work,” he says.
I don’t know if theatre is easier than films, but it’s a lot of hard work