While the audience may be forgiving of some of the flops he’s had in the past decade, the last few years haven’t entirely gone to his plan. I know it still is loved as much and I think they’ll forgive if I did a bad film.” “It just endeared me to audiences and kept me in a special place. “I think what drastically changed my life was Ustad Hotel,” Dulquer says. While the movie was a moderate hit, it was his next film, Ustad Hotel in which he played a Switzerland-returned chef who joins his ageing grandfather in his ramshackle restaurant in Kozhikode, that brought him closer to the audience and helped him emerge out of the shadow of his father. I think I get to live different lives in each of these industries, something that I truly cherish.”ĭulquer started acting a decade ago when he signed for debutante Srinath Rajendran’s Second Show, a movie in which he played the role of a gangster. “I never sought to become some pan-Indian actor, I still wonder what that term means,” he adds. “You get to live only once,” says the actor whose last release was the Malayalam film, Maniyarayile Ashokan, where he was the producer and had a cameo. He dubs for all his movies in different languages and it’s a love for language and culture that has taken him to the film world outside Kerala. That uneasiness aside, Dulquer has no real qualms when it comes to exploring roles outside of his comfort zone of Malayalam films. The actor has made his presence felt across southern Indian cinema with films such as O Kadhal Kanmani (Tamil) and Mahanati (Telugu), among others You can plan, you know your timeline of releases.”īangalore Days, a romantic comedydrama starring Dulquer Salmaan, became one of Malayalam cinema’s highest-grossing films. Sometimes I wish I was just in one industry. “Now with OTT and web, that’s almost like five verticals which I have to juggle. “I’m in this peculiar position where I’m juggling four industries,” Dulquer tells Forbes India over a Zoom call from Mumbai where he is shooting for R Balki’s yet-to-be-titled film. To top it all up, there is now the push towards OTT platforms, a segment he has long stayed away from and that has caught his attention. Add to it, his foray into Bollywood, where he has two films to his credit and is busy shooting one for adman-turned-director R Balki. Then there are the Tamil and Telugu industries where he has been busy making inroads and has been part of some big hits. There’s the Malayalam industry where he is a reigning star and has come out of the shadows of his father to build a stellar fan base. Much of that is because, by his own admission, he is at a peculiar position in the film industry, unlike many of his contemporaries.Īrmed with a boyish innocence, Dulquer is juggling five turfs at the moment. no films have come out,” Dulquer says jokingly. I was like what’s happening to my career. “It’s been an interesting time because it’s been a lot of reflection for me. The announcements have kicked up a storm, with roles ranging from one of Kerala’s long-time fugitives to a cop and an army officer in a Telugu film.
“They said, please, at least on your birthday, can we announce these.” “My filmmakers were like, people are beginning to think that these films you’ve signed with us are never going to see the light of day because you’ve not had a release with Covid-19, and you have been very quiet,” says Dulquer. Sony rallies big-screen hopes with 'Spider-Man' and 'Ghostbusters' at CinemaCon