EVERY STAR IS MADE IN HIS HEAD

Rocky bhai has redefined heroism in Indian cinema. Inside theatres, his dialogues are making the crowds go wild; outside, KGF 2 is smashing all records. The movie had recently breached the ₹1,100 crore mark in worldwide collections. Now that it is done, Rocky bhai has morphed back into actor Yash. But, in an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, the Karnataka native says that there is a Rocky in everyone. He speaks about his vision for Indian cinema, what the success of KGF means for the Kannada film industry and gives a glimpse of his journey—from being the son of a bus driver to India’s newest superstar.

- RAHUL DEVULAPALLI

INTERVIEW - YASH, actor

Q/ Are you comfortable being a superstar?

A/ Being comfortable with stardom is every actor’s desire; at least, in my life that is the case. I think in your head, you will always be a superstar, it is just that it takes time for people to accept that. And that happens through work. If this is not sounding arrogant, you should always have this confidence. That is a very positive mindset I believe in. Since childhood, I always wanted to be an actor. When people call someone a superstar, they accept their work. Once my movie is done, it is for people to decide whether they like it, or whether I am a superstar. But in my head, I will be a superstar for myself. So, when people call me that, I am happy, but it will not change anything, according to me.

Q/ Can you talk about your efforts in KGF 2 to cater to a wider audience from different regions?

A/ From the beginning, we believed in one thing—that you have to understand the language and present it in such a way that it is liked. I do not like it being called a dubbed film, because there are two types of dubbing: One, where producers sell the film and someone presents it to the best of their knowledge. The second is what we are doing now, which is not that. We hire proper writers from each language, sit with them and try to get the best of what we can get from them. Every language has its own beauty and cultural backing— we need to keep those intact. In the Kannada version of KGF, we described something as a piranha, but in the Hindi version, we described it as a geedhad ka jhund [pack of jackals]. We presented it in a way that is very authentic to the market. We applied a little Marathi texture to it because it is set in Bombay. So, dubbing takes a lot of effort.