BHOPAL: Thirteen characters in one frame, all wearing exactly the same dress, the same makeup and the same hairstyle, distinguishable only by their gestures and behaviour. Difficult, you would say. And what if all the characters are played by the same person?
No wonder, Bhopal-born theatre, film and TV actor Godaan Kumar, who has accomplished this feat, found it ‘challenging’. He has played this role – or rather these roles – in a short film titled ‘Mind Fuck’. The film is in the post-production stage and once it is ready, it would be sent to national and international film festivals. The 18-minute film is directed by Bhuvan Tamta.
“It was because the role was so challenging that it took almost a week to shoot the film, though it was of a very short duration,” he told Free Press. Godaan, who now lives in Mumbai, was in the city recently.
He has also essayed a role in another short movie ‘Van Devi’ based on Aranyani, the Rig Vedic goddess of the forests and the animals that dwell in them. ‘Van Devi’ is about protecting and preserving environment. The 42-minute film is directed by Janmajeya. It has already been sent to a film festival.
Godaan Kumar has been in the field of theatre for the past 20 years. He had started working when he just 11. From 1996 to 2011, he did almost 100 theatre productions, including plays, mimes, dance dramas and ballets.
In 2014, he graduated from the National School of Drama, New Delhi. He shifted to Mumbai in 2016 and in the three years since then, he has done five films. After his debut in ‘Dhadak’ as Janvi Kapoor's elder brother, and prominent roles in ‘Laal Kaptaan’, ‘Ittefaq’ and ‘Raagdesh’, Godaan Kumar shared screen space with Sidharth Malhotra, Riteish Deshmukh, Tara Sutaria and Rakul Preet in ‘Marjaavaan’, a romantic action movie directed by Milap Zaveri, The film was a box office success.
“My role in ‘Marjaavaan’ had double, even triple shades. While in ‘Dhadak’, my role was of the heir apparent of a royal family, in ‘Marjaavaan’, I played the role of Shafi, a street thug. I shot for the film for 42 days and developed a great rapport with Sidharth Malhotra. We have become great friends. He is a very humble and down-to-earth person,” he said. Godaan said that he won appreciation from his friends and colleagues in Bhopal for his performance in the film.
When asked about Janvi Kapoor, Godaan said that she was shaping up well as an actor. “She has her own individuality and is not at all trying to adopt the style of her late mother Sri Devi”, he said.
