Gulshan Devaiah reflects on his journey in Indian cinema, admitting the ego-driven nature of success and the liberating power of letting go of societal validation. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on the creative process rather than fame, while acknowledging the façade many maintain in the industry.
Speaking with Gulshan Devaiah, you quickly realise that you become a far better critic of a system you've tasted a bit of, in its highs and its lows. It’s a fascinating balance to strike, to be able to speak about it with such clarity while also admitting you still know nothing.
Devaiah, who most recently made his Telugu debut in Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Maa Inti Bangaram, has spent over two decades in Indian cinema working across Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. While he has slowly come to identify, accept, and process the many realities of being in it, he isn’t afraid to label some of it a “facade,” nor does he shy away from admitting he was hiding behind one in his initial days as an actor.
In an exclusive conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India ahead of the release of his upcoming film Little Thomas, directed by Kaushal Oza and backed by Anurag Kashyap, the actor opened up about a lot more than his next.
As he reflects on his time in the industry, he comes clean about the ego-centric origins of success, the innate need for validation and the fact that no one has it figured out, including him.
"When a lot of people say “Oh my God, you’re so great,” it inflates your ego, and financial success inflates it even more," says the actor, who also emphasises that it is crucial to find a perspective that steers you away from this way of thinking.
"I saw pretty early on that I have an ego like everybody else and didn’t know how to control it,” he admits. The actor says that the tricky part is that when you do gain control of it, “It also kills the excitement about the result, and the urge to know what people think. But it’s freeing. It’s very liberating."
Devaiah claims he does not concern himself with being complimented or even being critiqued because it’s something that will always exist in society. “I’m not particularly excited about it. I take what I need and let the rest go. There’s no pressure."
"It’s very human to want people to desperately like you. It’s not a flaw. Everybody has it. We all want people to like us, sometimes specific people, sometimes a lot of people, and in the movie business, the more the merrier."
The actor made his breakthrough with Bejoy Nambiar's Shaitan (2011) as the reckless and bratty Karan "KC" Chaudhary, which endeared him to the mainstream audience and powered his image as a credible and upcoming actor.
Asked if there's anything he feels he could have done differently to navigate the industry better at that time, he reveals he was "absolutely clueless when Shaitan came out. I didn’t know what to do with the attention. I was really uncomfortable back then. I didn’t know how to talk to people or how to behave," he says.
"Friends would invite me to their homes and parties, and they’d say, "Hey, we saw that movie," and somebody would ask, "What’s wrong with Gulshan? Does he think he’s some big star?" I just didn’t know how to behave."
Devaiah believes that as a young actor, he wasn’t fully sure of who he was, which also informed his public persona. "I really didn’t know what to say in interviews either. If you see my old interviews from that time, I don’t think I had any clue, and my opinions hadn’t formed yet. I was so inexperienced, and so conscious of being myself."
In an industry as volatile, unpredictable and at the same time, as transpiring as the Indian film industry, it is easy to get embroiled in the interplay of it all. And while it is impossible to choose how to travel through it, Davaiah has broken it down to something a bit simpler and within his control — identifying the things he doesn’t want to pay attention to.
“If I care about success and results, it makes life miserable. So I care about the process. I’ll try and do my best, enjoy the process, enjoy working with people, and create the illusion of a character,” he says.
“You create better when you enjoy it, whether that’s wearing a costume or giving interviews. I really enjoy giving interviews. I’m not going to bother myself with how many views this interview will get, or who’s going to read it.”
"I’ve seen people be disappointed and depressed because they want people to like them. They want success and stardom, and they don’t get it. Many of them are still miserable. They’re all beautiful-looking people, but deep inside, a lot of them are miserable. That’s a constant battle, I feel. And I don’t want to be like that," he muses.
Despite this reality and his analysis of the ego, you begin to wonder how exactly someone, who is constantly in the limelight, is able to stay grounded amid the complexity of his profession and the even more convoluted environment it thrusts him into. For Devaiah, the answer is pretty straightforward.
"It’s quite simple. I don’t know anything. I’m still learning so many things about the business. Nobody knows anything. If anybody says they know everything, or behaves as though they do, it’s a facade, and sooner or later they’ll find out!"