Dulquer Salmaan has proved himself to be one of the finest actors in Malayalam cinema. Now, this young forever-exploratory actor is embarking on a career outside his home ground. His performance as Tamil matinee idol Gemini Ganesan in Nadigaiyar Thilagam / Mahanati has caught a lot of attention.
“We all knew we were doing something important, something special. To tell the story of this Tamil-Telugu cinema’s legendary actress Savitri was something I believed in,” says Dulquer adding that a role away from his home territory, Kerala, was an added challenge.
He agrees that regional demarcation is blurring in the film industry, but at the same time Dulquer also strongly believes that Malayalam cinema has a narrow market. “I was happy to enter Tamil market and now into Telugu with Mahanati and into Hindi as well,” he says.
Though it was bit tricky, the young actor managed to dub his own lines in Telugu. “I had to practise the words, understand and absorb what I am saying and then speak. I couldn’t identify mistakes, and every time they corrected, I wondered what was wrong. I had to render dialogues again and again until it came out sounding right,” says Dulquer.
It was this challenge that drew him towards the role.
Dulquer feels that his father has a larger-than-life image. When he chose cinema as his career, the young actor was determined to be different from what his father had already done.
“It made no sense to walk in his footsteps. There is nothing like a ‘born actor’. It’s all about honing the skills. Duplication never works for anybody. I chose my own path because that was the only way. The only advantage is that I got to debut much easier than an outsider.”
Doing a film with his father doesn’t excite Dulquer as he can’t accept such comparisons. However, he won’t mind if a movie can offer really challenging roles for both. Though in the same industry, when together, the father and the son prefer to discuss things other than cinema.
The female fans are no threat to family life, says Dulquer adding that it is the other way round, sweet and harmless. He swears that no female fan ever landed at his home threatening to break the door down.
He was all excited to say about his little princess, Maryam Ameerah Salmaan, who turned one on May 5. Speaking of birthday celebrations, Dulquer said that they don’t believe in conducting a large party.
“We had a small family dinner, and we took pictures in case someday she wants proof of her first birthday celebration.”
