I want to appeal to youngsters with costumes I wear: Dulquer Salmaan

CHENNAI: Wearing a retro green shirt and black trousers, paired with brown shoes, Dulquer Salmaan looks straight out of a 70s film. He is in the city to promote his film Lucky Baskhar, directed by Venky Atluri and produced by Naga Vamsi-Sai Soujanya. As we gaze at his hairdo with a curl in the front and his costume, Dulquer gets it and says, “I understand. This is the perk of doing quite a few period films. At a point in time, I tried to avoid signing them. But some scripts, like Lucky Baskhar, which again is a period film, are too beautiful to say no to. Coming back to the look, it requires so much to even maintain this over a period of time. Sometimes, my wife, Amal, facetimes me and sees me with a retro moustache and says ‘I miss my husband’. But yes, this is how it is,” he laughs.

After Mahanati, Sita Ramam, Kammattipaadam, and King of Kotha, Dulquer will be seen yet again in a period film with Lucky Baskhar revolving around the banking system in India in the 80s. “I am a person of all ages and periods. This time, my role has shades of grey to it. “In fact, the entire film has some grey tone to it. Now, I like to touch upon a bit of a grey shade as well with my roles. This is not the time for me to do coming-of-age roles. As actors, we would love to explore such roles as well. It’s not like we are all angels but that is how we have been conditioned by our parents since our childhood. It is fun for an actor to play such roles on screen. Not only lately, in the last few decades, or even from the beginning of cinema, the audience have liked actors in negative roles. Crime documentaries are still popular among people because they are fascinated to know how someone can pull off such heinous crimes. So, it is okay to explore grey characters,” reckons the actor.

Dulquer says that he doesn’t dwell in his past success. “I was excited with the success of Sita Ramam, Mahanati and other films. But I am looking forward to the successes of Lucky Baskhar and Kantha as well. That is the most exciting thing as an actor. We look forward to our films becoming hits. After the release of the trailer, our team is confident about the success of Lucky Baskhar. We have been working on it for the last one year,” he adds.

Despite being fluent in Tamil, the actor hasn’t dubbed for his role in the language. There have been comments that read how his voice would have best suited his character. “Yes, that is the most crucial part. Right after this interview I am going to the dubbing studio and planning to dub in Tamil in one go,” clarifies Dulquer.

We couldn’t let go of him before asking him about how his choice of costumes, especially drop shoulder t-shirts and baggy fit pants have become the latest fashion trend. With a laugh, he says, “I grew up watching my dad dress. They were not slim fits and were oversized, especially from a low angle. I always wanted to dress like a grown man and not a child. Before I became an actor, I used to style appa. There was an award function in Dubai and I went shopping to pick up clothes for him. I want to appeal to youngsters, and my audience. Kids keep looking at me, including my sneakers and they should connect to what I am wearing. Also, oversized costumes are a great comfort wear. I have a few go-to clothes which are easy to get in and get out.”