'I want to be identified as the bad guy'

Star talk

For actor Yash Shetty, acting was an inbuilt passion. The young artiste, who was first noticed for his role in ‘Jwalantham’, was recently seen in diverse roles in projects ‘Sojiga’ and ‘John Jani Janardhan’.

With quite a few projects in hand, Yash vouches that this has been a delightful year for him. In a chat with Tini Sara Anien, he talks about his career so far and upcoming movies.

Your journey till now...
My journey has been more than exciting. I did my diploma  in acting at Ninasam, Shivamogga after which I pursued an acting course at National Institute of Drama, Delhi. I was an acting trainer in Mumbai Film Institute, before ‘Jwalantham’ happened. My character, ‘Ghora’, got noticed and I started getting more roles with negative shades. There has been no looking back for me since then.

How challenging has it been?
All the movie projects I have done so far have been different shades of the same genre. In ‘John Jani Janardhan’, where I play Dibakar Banerjee, I didn’t have any lines and I had to express all emotions with my eyes. The climax fight sequence was challenging, but I’m thankful that people accepted my performance and appreciated me for it.
In ‘Sojiga’, I play a supercop and had a significant screen presence. It was exciting to have these two releases on the same day.

Your upcoming projects?
I will be playing the negative lead in ‘Noorondu Nenapu’ in which Chetan (of ‘Myna’ fame) and actor Meghana Raj will also be seen. The movie is in its post-production stage and is expected to release by February. My role has a femine trait to it, for which I had to research a lot. Other upcoming projects include ‘Trataka’, ‘Atharva’ and ‘Pradesha Samachara’.

A bit about the homework you did for the role in ‘Noorondu...’
I took around 15 days to understand the mannerisms required for the role. This film is a remake of a Marathi film ‘Duniyadari’ which I drew my research from. I went to the streets and observed the mannerisms of transgenders too. The role also requires me to have a paunch, for which I went off-diet. I also sport a different hairstyle in the movie.

How do you manage all these projects?
I’m taking everything one step at a time. I like doing my research and giving enough time to each project before moving on to the next one.
Every character I do is different — even the body language, the lines and the mannerisms are different. In fact, people who saw me in ‘Jwalantham’ were not able to identify me in ‘John Jani Janardhan’.

Are you worried about being typecast into negative roles?
I want to be identified as the baddie in the industry. Though I will be seen playing a good guy in ‘Pradesh Samachara’ and I played a positive role in ‘Sojiga’, I want to be identified as the bad guy in the industry. Playing negative shades is challenging. They help explore sides of oneself that might not be possible through other roles.

A role that you would have loved to play...
I would have loved to play the role of the Joker in ‘Dark Knight’ or something similar. In regional movies, I would have loved to play the roles played by Bobby Simha in ‘Jigarthanda’ and Saikumar’s role in ‘RangiTaranagá’.