Model-turned-actor Kabir Duhan Singh aka Chota Nayak, the prime antagonist in Gopichand starrer Jil is in a celebratory mood. “My Hindi movie with Shiny Ahuja did not take off, so I continued to do modelling. I was 27 and I thought it was high time I did something and I joined theatre to learn acting. It was around this time I got a call asking if I was interested in acting in a Telugu movie. I attended the screen test and Jil has made me a star,” says the debut actor, sounding upbeat.
Born and brought up in Faridabad, Kabir Duhan Singh moved to Mumbai in 2011 and took up modelling as a career. He took up many a Fashion Week assignments and travelled international before he signed the Bollywood non-starter.
Since his debut in Telugu, Kabir has wrapped up his work in Kick 2 starring Ravi Teja, directed by Surender Reddy. The film is releasing in May and he is currently shooting for his third film (Kannada) with Prajwal Devraj. He adds, “I am being flooded with offers from Tamil, Kannada and Hindi too but I need to be cautious. When I was shooting for Kick 2, one person came to me and asked me to try acting as a hero. I told him that it is important that the public accept me first. I had done hard work, grew a beard and didn’t take up any other assignment while I was shooting Jil . I waited for a year even as the industry went through two strikes. My director Radha Krishna kept assuring me not to give up and guaranteed that once Jil is out, people will go gaga over me. I always wanted to make my debut from a good banner. I am happy to see my dream come true.”
The actor is all praise for director Radha Krishna; he just narrated two or three scenes, the intro and his climax and Kabir was floored by the character sketch. He points out that Jil is a villain-oriented movie and he is fortunate to have bagged that role.
In Kick 2 he plays the negative lead. So far he has rejected roles in a Ram Charan film, Bengal Tiger and a couple of Tamil films solely because the roles given to him were not on par with what he did in Kick 2 and Jil . The role has to be strong and author-backed like the one he is doing Kannada now.
How does he maintain his fitness when he is travelling? “I carry my things to the sets and tell the production people in advance the diet prescribed for me. Whenever I get some time, I take my resistance bands and hang it somewhere and start working out. There is pressure everywhere; be it in modelling or movies. One has to wait for a second show in modelling and the same with movies. ‘What next after this’ is always a question.”
Kabir observes that there is a sea change in the look and feel of villains in regional films. Baddies no longer wear starched white dhoti kurta and sport a gold chain. They have become stylised and are as smartly dressed as the hero. He points out, “The intro scene in Jil is awesome wherein I ask for a smoke and a lighter and the reaction that follows. People are appreciating that scene a lot. After the film the likes on my FB page has gone up from 800 to 1200 and I have 85 messages from people all complimenting me. The styling helps elevate the villain on the screen. If you are handsome and kapade add hothe hai (clothes add to it)it takes the film to the next level. I am humbled by the reception. Next year I am planning to go to New York to brush up my skills in acting. It feels nice when public thaali maarke bahar nikalthi hai (come out clapping) and they are not willing to accept that the villain is dead because he has been such a strong competitor.”
