'I don't approach acting as a job'

TV show

Actor Sumit Kaul, best known for his role as Justin in TV series Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat, will now be seen in the second season of 24. But the 38-year-old is tight-lipped about his character, which he says is so mysterious that it will keep viewers guessing throughout the show.

“I had met Rensil D’Silva, one of the directors of the series, while I was shooting for an advertisement. After a few months, he called me and offered the role,” Kaul tells Metrolife.

“He had liked my green eyes and told me that people don’t relate to such eye colour because it is uncommon. And that is what the character demanded, some sort of unpredictability and hence I was on board,” he recalls.

Kaul has worked in several television shows and has also featured in films like Haider, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Rockstar. However, he admits that being part of 24 is a different ball game altogether.

“Unlike other TV serials, there is no scope for confusion in this show. You are given the script in advance and you get to know how your character is shaping up because of which you get a lot of time to prepare,” he says.

Kaul who started his career as a theatre actor has come a long way when it comes to surviving in the industry. “A lot of things were not available to me since I don’t come from a film background. But it has been a thrill to go through the gruelling process of struggle and then be able to pursue what I always wanted to,”
he says.

“I don’t approach acting as a job. I enjoy the whole act of processing and understanding a character,” he adds.

Kaul, whose father is a businessman, admits that the turning point of his life was when he was not getting any work in Mumbai and went to filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, with whom he still plays tennis, for advice.

“What he told me, changed the course of my life. He said, “The day you won’t have any option but to succeed will be the day when you will take your first step towards success,’” he recalls.

“Bhardwaj ji never pointed out directly, but he knew I wasn’t trying too hard because I had the option of going back to Delhi and joining my father’s business, if things didn’t work out. But I understood what he meant. That day I just decided that I will only focus on acting… and that decision has worked in my favour,”
he says.