Don’t have much time to learn from my mistakes or take things slow, says Kabi
Having started his movie career late, Neeraj Kabi feels he has less scope to make mistakes. The actor, therefore, is very particular about the films and roles he associates with.
Neeraj marked his big screen debut with the National Award-winning Oriya film The Last Vision (1997). Fifteen years later, his portrayal of Maitreya in Ship of Theseus (2012) brought him into the limelight. He was 44 when the second film happened. Since then, he has been a part of films such as Monsoon Shootout (2013), Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015), Talvar (2015), Viceroy’s House (2017), Hichki and In the Shadows. In all these films, he has played different characters. More recently, his character of a cop in a web series got him appreciation.
“Creative satisfaction is very important for me. I am really clear about one thing — I started really late, so age is not on my side. Hence, I don’t have much time to learn from my mistakes or take things slow. I will have to do what can be done with the little time I have in hand. So, every time I am offered a character, I try to understand what is it adding to the story,” says the actor, who is a theatre artist.
Also, Neeraj does not want to be typecast. “I don’t get carried away with the offers I receive. What mostly happens is that if I play a father once, then I get to play a father in other projects as well. So, I am extremely shrewd and clever when I am saying yes to any project. Since I don’t have the liberty to take risks, I give every project my 200 percent. As I know, my performance can’t be substandard; it should be better than the previous. After all, this will only help me last longer,” adds the actor, who is currently working on a web series and a Bengali film directed by Goutam Ghose.