Jitin Gulati On Playing Trans Character In 'Kaala': It Was My Hunger Over These Years Of Getting An Opportunity To Do Something This Complicated

This year has been a great one so far for actor Jitin Gulati. Recently, he had back-to-back-releases-'Kaala' and 'Bambai Meri Jaan'. In the former Jitin played the most complicated role. He played a trans character in Bejoy Nambiar's directorial and feels lucky to play such a meaty role. We got glimpses of his potential in the series and with his role in 'Kaala, Gulati proved he is such a terrific actor. In a conversation with Garima Das of Outlook India, Jitin revealed how he bagged the role, his preparations for the character and a lot more.

Jitin said, ''I was actually called to test for Rohan's (Vinod Mehra) part. I got a call from the casting people that there is a part of an army guy and they wanted to test me for Rohan's part. I gave the test for that part and then I came to know that Rohan was locked for that part. Then I asked my casting directors if there was any other part. He told me about a part which was very exciting. He told me that I have to play a man who goes into a space of a transwoman and he told me that it was a very challenging role.''

At the same time, the 'Broken But Beautiful' actor was shooting for 'Bambi Meri Jaan' and he was concerned as to how he would convince Bejoy with his test. ''I was shooting for Bambai Meri Jaan at that point in time and was in that whole gangster look. So, my concern was how I would convince the director, Bejoy sir that I could look like a woman. He gave me the script and I went back. For two days I prepared for it. I was in two minds doing it because I didn't want to give a bad audition, especially to a director like Bejoy. But I did it and they really liked the test and that's how I got on board. I did the first scene as Shakti. The boutique scene that was there was my audition scene. They really liked what I did and from there on, Bejoy sir loved it and that's how I got finalised for it,'' he said. 

Jitin calls it his hunger over the years that gave him an opportunity to do such a complicated character in 'Kaala'. He added, ''I have always been looking but somehow I was never approached for parts like this. I never got this kind of meat on any character. I think it was my hunger that saved the day for me on this project. I really wanted to go for it. Mr Nambiar saw me as the gangster in the test, testing for a woman and hats off to him that he could see the character in me because that look was not something that was working at that point for the character. But it's his cinematic vision of what he saw and I got this part and once I had this, of course, I knew I dive deep into it because this is one part which could go horribly wrong if I was unprepared or it could go beautifully right. I'm just glad that I got it very right.''

On how he prepared for the role, the actor said, ''Preparation-wise it was all the script. I went through various workshops, I did voice training, did training to walk in heels, and a lot of things to get this thing correct. I also met people from the LGBTQ community and spoke to them. I literally researched a lot and watched a lot of documentaries and films. I basically wanted to get an idea of this whole world before I entered into it and then shot for it. I am glad that it worked out well.''

For the unversed, Jitin appeared in the film 'Sisak' on the LGBTQ community. He said that because of that film, he met a few of the community members and he was aware of all these. He added, ''There was preparation for that part also. So, I was at the periphery of knowing about the community but this part really had me dive deep into it.''

He feels happy that people are finally looking at him as an actor and they have appreciated his work. ''This is the kind of work that I want to do and I am somewhere very happy. Of course, I have become more hungry and want to keep doing work and don't want to settle for this. But I am happy that all these opportunities came together and the response was this big,'' said Jitin.