My world is all about entertaining people: Raqesh Bapat

In a first, actor Raqesh Bapat will be playing a negative character inspired by a popular gangster from the ’90s. The Savita Damodar Paranjape (2018) actor was pretty unsure of agreeing to play the same, however, once he was on set, after the makeup and look test, he decided to dive in.

Unfortunately, the film has changed its title thrice since its announcement, and Raqesh reveals that though it hasn’t affected him, he would have liked the original title. “A part of which I agreed to sign in had to do with the original title Rajan. We then changed it to Mumbai 93 and now finally it is Mumbai Apli Ahe. As an artiste, such things don’t get to me. But, I feel, the name of a film tells you the premise, and hence I was hoping we could stick to the first one,” says the Vrundavan (2016) actor.

An artist and sculptor, Raqesh credits his creative side to his calm personality. “I detach really well and zone out easily too. For me, my world is all about entertaining people. I don’t get into anything else.”

He adds that his zoning out helps him grow as an actor too as he is able to leave behind baggages of roles and move on. “If you see me in this film, you won’t believe it is me. Also, I did not want to ape anyone. In fact, I did not do any homework about the character, because then I get stressed if I falter. I just let it go with the flow, also Bharat (Sunanda, director) was clear with what he wanted.” He adds the subject is controversial, and he just stuck to understanding the plot and premise from where the character grows. “I stuck to the fact that the ‘said’ person believes ‘might is right’.”

First Published: Jan 10, 2019 20:38 IST