DULQUER SALMAAN: BREAKING BARRIERS

While his stab at massy pan-Indian cinema (a term he despises) - King of Kotha - arguably the biggest film of his career, and undeniably one of the most anticipated Malayalam films of 2023, might not have hit the bullseye, Dulquer Salmaan, in his rugged gangster avatar, is in superlative form. But it is in his Raj & DK-led web series debut, Guns & Gulaabs that everything truly comes together for the actor as he nails the Arjun act

- Ananya Ghosh

Arjun Varma is a gun-toting outsider in a leather jacket who arrives in Gulaabganj, a fictional town perched on a vast and barren landscape. He is there to save the town, where government-licensed opium is grown, from the goons. But since it is Raj & DK’s world, the 'Lone Cowboy' is also a family man. And instead of just guns and gumption, he is also armed with his official power as the new narcotics officer and serious contempt for Jhankar Beat remixes and anything illegal. But is Arjun just a straight shooter government employee or there is something farzi about his intentions?

Dulquer Salmaan, who was last seen as the shy and introverted psycho serial killer, Danny, in R. Balki’s Chup (2022), is Arjun Varma. It is his OTT debut and he is every shade brilliant in Guns & Gulaabs — The Family Man and Farzi makers' wistful Western which is a ’90s nostalgia-seeped ode to the misfits of the world. It is not usual for a star of his stature to make an OTT debut as part of an ensemble cast, especially when it includes the likes of Rajkummar Rao, Adarsh Gourav and Gulshan Devaiah, but then DQ has a penchant for the unusual.

In fact, when we had last met the suave actor, who was also our June cover star, he had mentioned that he is rather uncomfortable being in a ‘comfort zone’. “I think a bit of nervous energy is good. Most actors have it deep down. If I find something easy, I get a bit worried. I like a good challenge. Also, it is very easy for actors to get into a comfort zone and take up similar roles…I think it is important to constantly keep challenging oneself and push the envelope,” he had said at the time.