Actor Dulquer Salmaan has had a very busy year with back-to-back releases. Hey Sinamika, Salute and Chup: The Revenge Of The Artist might have had an underwhelming performance but Sita Ramam opened to raving reviews and emerged as a blockbuster at the box office. But what remains interesting is that he has dabbled across four film industries in 2022. While Hey Sinamika was made in Tamil and Salute in Malayalam, Sita Ramam was a Telugu film and Chup: The Revenge Of The Artist marked his return to the Hindi film industry three years after The Zoya Factor (2019).
In an exclusive interaction with News18, Dulquer reveals that eyebrows are often raised about his presence across multiple film industries. “People have an opinion on anything I do. They’re always ready to give free advice on the kinds of films I should and should not be doing and my career, in general. For example, they feel I shouldn’t be acting in films across four industries and that if I keep my feet on multiple boats, I’ll sink,” he says.
But DQ has an interesting explanation as to why he loves making movies in different languages. Shedding light on it, he shares, “I operate with a lot of love and passion for cinema. I belong to a generation where all of us are seeking experiences. We’ve the luxury of just backpacking and travelling across the world on our own and gaining experiences, documenting them and putting them out there. I do that with my film choices because when I work across different industries, I gain various kinds of cultural experiences.”
So, following his passion and turning a deaf year to the detractors keep him going. “I’m trying to do the best work that I can and do great, original cinema wherever I go, whether it’s right or wrong, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Nevertheless, I would want to thank everyone for their free advice (laughs),” states the 36-year-old. He further adds, “I’ve always been the one to just observe and read. I only answer when I’m asked to and speak when I’m spoken. That’s just who I’m innately and I’m happy about it. My motto is to remain silent and not use too many words. I just keep quiet.”
But is staying silent easy even in this day and age of social media? “Everyone now has an opinion and avenues to voice them. We all have social media and phones with a camera. And then there are people with similar opinions flocking together. It has become difficult to navigate [social media],” the O Kadhal Kanmani (2015) and Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal (2020) actor explains.
Come 2023 and Dulquer will mark his web series debut with filmmaker duo Raj and DK’s Hindi comedy thriller titled Guns & Gulaabs. Quiz him about his sporadic work in Bollywood and he candidly says, “The Malayalam film industry is my core market. It has given me everything that I’ve today. So, my primary responsibility is towards them. Every opportunity that I’ve received in other languages has stemmed from some film I’ve done in Malayalam. So, every time I venture out, it better be a very good and bold choice and be a piece of great cinema. Whether it becomes a hit or a blockbuster is not in my control.”
For DQ, quality takes precedence over quantity and he avers that he wants to carefully weigh out his options so that he doesn’t regret spending his time doing films in Hindi. He elaborates, “We’re at a time when Malayalam cinema is peaking. When I do a film in another language, I’m denying Malayalam filmmakers the dates and the films that I could have been doing with them. Every choice has to be weighed.”
The actor continues, “I need to do films that really speak to me and I’m really excited with. Having said that, I would like to discount the last two years due to the pandemic. So, that way, my last Hindi film [before Chup] didn’t happen too long ago (laughs).”
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