Back in 2008, as I watched Rock On !!, the film that would inadvertently open up my mind to music, a charming actor with a twinkle in his eye and a nice strut in his step quietly made an impression that stayed on long after leaving the theatre. Purab Kohli’s “Killer Drummer” or KD also became someone to emulate among amateur musicians.
Be it KD then or Ibrahim from Airlift more recently, Kohli has a certain earnestness with which he approaches each character, making them his own. However, he has not been very prolific of late in terms of dramatic appearances. “It wasn’t intentional,” says Kohli, “I was trying to do stuff I felt people should watch. All the films I’ve been a part of were smaller and they tried their best to reach out to a larger audience, but failed. Nonetheless, they were great films.” Kohli is most likely referring to his film Jal (2013).
Now it’s time for a double whammy in a single week. Kohli reprises his role of KD in Rock On!! 2 and plays one of the leads in P.O.W.— Bandi Yuddh Ke , Star Plus’s new TV show directed by filmmaker Nikhil Advani.
Talking about the contrasting characters he had to portray simultaneously, Kohli says it was a difficult transition to go from the ‘happy-go-lucky’ drummer to a tortured prisoner of war. “They’re (the two characters) miles apart from each other. One is very complex. Sartaj is an army man, tortured in captivity for 17 years, who has now come home to his family. Being away from his family has affected him mentally, psychologically and physically,” he says. KD, on the other hand, is a much lighter role. He’s chilled out, fun and wears his heart on his sleeve. “He’s a drummer, he’s doing what he loves; he’s playing music and you see him play a lot more.”
One cannot help notice a nostalgic affection in Kohli’s voice for Rock On!! 2 , his co-stars and the journey they have undertaken eight years after the first one. There’s also a sense of practicality, “You know it’s a big film and lots of people are going to come to watch it. I feel quite secure,” he says. He claims KD has held onto the characteristics that endeared him to the audience in the first film despite being older, more successful and more engrossed in his music in the sequel.
Rock On!! 2 sees two new younger members hopping on the Magik bandwagon against the breathtaking locales of Shillong. Audiences responded well to the camaraderie between Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Luke Kenny and Purab Kohli in Rock On!!. However, that dynamic is bound to undergo a transformation with Shraddha Kapoor and Shashank Arora joining the team. “Shraddha brings a lot of interesting flavour to the music with her voice, and having a girl on the Magik poster definitely makes it better! So does Shashank, who plays lot of instruments in real life,” says Kohli. Shooting with them was a great deal of fun, claims Kohli, with most evenings in Shillong ending in jam sessions, thanks to the in-house musicians. With Rock On!! , the audience was blown away by an alternate genre of music in Hindi cinema: Indian rock. Kohli says that the sequel too has good music, stunning visuals and a story high on drama and fun in equal measure.
There’s clearly an easy familiarity with one role whereas the other, in P.O.W. , has made Kohli push the boundaries as a performer. Playing both at the same time, then, was indeed a huge challenge for Kohli, who had to manoeuvre different looks and psyches, at times feeling “schizophrenic” jumping between the two roles within the same day.
Kohli’s role in P.O.W. explores the trauma involved both at the familial and at the personal level when a soldier missing for two decades is suddenly found to be alive. The show delves into the upheaval suffered by two families and is a high emotion drama. Nikhil Advani, director of Kal Ho Na Ho and D-Day, has treated the show with cinematic rigour, making it stand apart from the usual television soaps. Adapted from an Israeli series, Hatufim , the show may change the way Indian television is perceived, says the actor. “It’s definitely going to draw in a new audience. There is an audience for more intelligent stuff on TV, but they just don’t seem to get it, so they tune out. I hope this draws them back in,” he says.
Indeed, the expectations are sky high with both Kohli’s new ventures. No wonder his fingers are tightly crossed as he hopes for some magic to happen both at the box office, and on the small screen.
The writer is an intern at The Hindu
