The audience is very fond of the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film is bombing at the box office and earning fast. Along with Anupam Kher and Mithun Chakraborty in the film, actor Chinmay Mandelkar is also garnering a lot of accolades for his strong acting. In The Kashmir Files, Chinmay played the role of militant commander Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate. Chinmay has played this character so well that some people used abusive language for him in real life even on social media.
Call to Chinmaya coming from abroad
In fact, recently Chinmay Mandelkar talked to News18 about the film The Kashmir Files and his character. In this conversation, when asked about the strong response the film is getting, he said- ‘This feeling is very beautiful and full of gratitude. No one had thought of this success. Thought that people would definitely talk about it after watching the film but never thought of such a response. I am getting calls from Europe to Australia.
Worked with Pallavi Joshi
On the question of how Chinmay played Bitta Karate in The Kashmir Files, how he got into the character and what was the first reaction to the script…, Chinmoy said, “It is luck that I played this character. I had been doing Marathi films for some time and had worked with Pallavi Joshi in 2007. Vivek had done many auditions for the character of Farukh Bitta in the film, but according to him, the actor was not available. In such a situation, Pallavi suggested my name. After that I auditioned and Vivek selected me.
Getting such a character… Dream come true
Regarding the reaction of reading the script for the first time, Chinmay said, ‘I asked Vivek – did all this really happen? To which he said that whatever actually happened, only 35 percent of it is in the script. Because what actually happened was even more horrifying than that. Let us tell you that earlier in 2018, Chinmay had played the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in a Marathi film, so on the decision to play the role of a militant directly, he said, ‘I really had no hesitation. I knew this character was important in what Kashmir Files was trying to say. It is a dream come true for any actor to get such a character.
How to prepare for the film
On the question of how the preparation was done for the film, Chinmay said, ‘This character was not just Bitta Karate, it was a mixture of many people. I watched many videos and the most important thing was to catch the Kashmiri accent. Because I am a Marathi person. Sumbali, who plays Sharda Pandit in the film, helped me a lot. She was my coach. Vivek told me to understand the nature of that person who is saying – I will kill my own mother without any hesitation.
Sholay is also called bad…
While the film is being liked a lot, on the other hand, many people are also telling the film propaganda. To this Chinmay said, ‘If a person is saying this after watching the film, then it is the person’s own thinking and I respect him, but those who are saying this without watching the film, I want to tell them. Don’t make any opinion about the movie without watching it. Go watch the movie and then tell it good or bad. People even call Sholay bad, so there is no perfect film in such a situation.