Gulshan Devaiah says he drew inspiration from Anton Chigurh for his role in No Country For Old Men

Gulshan Devaiah, popular for his roles in projects like Guns & Gulaabs, shared insights into his decision-making process and revealed that he drew inspiration for his character from Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men. As 2023 concludes, the actor discussed his learnings and the impact on his decision-making, coinciding with the announcement of the second season of Guns & Gulaabs by the project's makers in a conversation with IANS.

Gulshan on approaching 4 Cut Atmaram

Speaking about his process of approaching 4 Cut Atmaram, Gulshan told IANS, “I initially based 4 Cut Atmaram on Anton Chigurh played by Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. They’re not similar but certain things about them do overlap, there’s quirkiness to them, a sense of danger and they both cannot be defeated. So, I thought I should draw from Anton Chigurh."

The anticipation around the 4 Cut Atmaram is heightened in the second season and his face-off with Rajkummar Rao’s Paana Tipu is highly awaited.

He discussed is perspective on the character, he said, "I imagined that I’m in a spaghetti western, so many positions and stance that I take in the series are influenced by the spaghetti western genre. I requested for a pocket to be built like a gun slinger, ready to draw my knife to inflict the deadly 4 cuts. I didn’t try to humanise him as well, I treated the character as a figment of imagination. It really helped me put the character in perspective."

Gulshan completed his graduation from NIFT. Later, he joined fashion industry where he worked for 10 years. He was also a teacher for fashion students at the Wigan & Leigh College in Bengaluru.

Gulshan Devaiah talks about studying design

Studying designs helped hims a lot in analysing aesthetics, he said “Studying design gives me an advantage in analysing the aesthetics of a physical space and not just the props or the costumes. I use my sense of design to interact with the space, it’s almost like having a third vantage point."

"My decision-making has improved. It’s like an algorithm, it’s not a very rigid system, there are basic rules that I follow but I ensure to make room for sufficient changes as may be required with the passage of time. Sometimes you get it wrong also but that’s fine, it’s a part of the journey, and the journey is more important for me," he adds.

Sharing his opinion on the issue of using violence in two recently released films like Salaar and Animal, he said, “People easily get attracted towards either supporting something or going completely against it, it’s a binary. Having an extreme reaction is a currency on social media to draw attention no matter what side of the debate one is at. And this has created a symbiotic loop which I feel is not very constructive."

“Having said that, I feel it’s important to discuss perspectives, like I feel that an excessive amount of violence or glorification of violence in an artwork can have some negative effect on the society, but it’s not that it will breed a violent society. The reality lies somewhere in the grey area," he added.

Discussing on  how people challenge the idea of morality, he said, “Some people want to challenge the idea of morality in their artwork and that’s where new grounds are broken in terms of telling a story or creating something which has never been a part of the society. Some people want to uphold the sense of morality which leads to conservative art. I think both are necessary.

“Again, a majority of artistes are somewhere in the middle. Then there are those like me who believe that the idea of freedom of expression cannot be absolute. The push and pull is extremely constructive for the growth of society and the art itself.”

(With inputs from IANS)