Nirup Bhandari as musician in next

The actor sports a beard and grapples with anger problems in the film ‘Window Seat’

Actor Nirup Bhandari won many hearts with his performance in ‘RangiTaranga’, ‘Rajaratha’ and ‘Adi Lakshmi Purana’. The first look from ‘Window Seat’, directed by actor Sheetal Shetty, is now gathering a lot of support from the industry and film buffs.

In a candid chat with Metrolife, the actor reveals more about the role and the film.

How did the film happen?

Just when ‘Adi Lakshmi Purana’ was ready for release, Sheetal came to me with the story. Her call was a surprise; I thought Sheetal was calling me on someone else’s behalf, as she is an actor too. I got a glimpse of some short films she had worked on and I realised that she understood the technique. I was impressed by how the story unfolded and the way my character was presented and I agreed to join the project.

Tell us about your role.

I play a musician at a cafe. My character plays the guitar and is a singer. He has anger issues and a keen sense of hearing. He doesn’t miss any sound around him, every pleasant sound he hears is music to his ears. He doesn’t like people yelling and loud noises though. Why he catches a window seat, what he is looking at and what that leads to, is what the story is about.

What was peculiar about this role?

Every film I do, I try to play different characters. I’ve played a student, a cop earlier, and compared to those, this role has more mass. All my earlier characters have had a boyish or goofy tone to them at some point. The musician I play in ‘Window Seat’ is more mature.

Do you have anger issues? How did you prepare for your role?

I don’t. I do get angry but I know how to control it or not show it in front of others. I am a very patient person. I have always been influenced by method acting. I learnt it from Ratan Thakore Grant’s acting school.

Every character I play, I try to draw from personal experience and extrapolate emotions from another situation. When I want to act like I am angry, I would remember a situation where I felt anger and didn’t express it, and just let go off steam here.

You sport a different look here...

Sheetal had something else in mind for my look. After ‘Adi Lakshmi Purana’, I started growing a beard. Sudeep sir had liked my performance in ‘Rajaratha’ and appreciated me for the climax scene of the film, where I sported a beard. He suggested that I should work on a film with this look.

‘Window Seat’ is a project which doesn’t involve your brother and director Anup Bhandari at all. Is it any different?

This is the first project where Anup is not around at all — he was busy with ‘Phantom’. I work the same way with all directors, be it Anup or anyone else. Whenever I prepare for a character, I take workshops and make it a point to enact the scene with co-actors. A film is a director’s media and I always respect that.

Tell us about Sheetal Shetty, the director.

We had a lot of newcomers in the film, and she was able to do a good job of getting a good performance out of all of them. She was very particular about all the scenes and everything was well planned.