Actor Chinmay Mandlekar is a renowned name in the Marathi film circuit, having worked in acclaimed movies like Farzand, Fatteshikast, and Pawankhind. But it wasn’t until a few days ago that the entire nation woke up to the fact of what he was capable of doing. Mandlekar became simply impossible to ignore as he slipped into his “dream role” as Farooq Malik Bitta in The Kashmir Files which has now made him a sensation.
In The Kashmir Files, Mandlekar plays a Militant commander banishing Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley during the 1990s. His intense and bone-chilling portrayal of Malik Bitta in Vivek Agnihotri’s directorial has earned him critical acclaim. In this interview, he talks about the massive success that the film has witnessed at the box office in just five days of its release, how he became Farooq Malik Bitta for The Kashmir Files, and his response to the claims made by a section of people that the movie is ‘propaganda’.
Excerpts from the interview:
The Kashmir Files has been receiving a phenomenal response not just domestically but globally as well. How do you feel to be a part of this movie that has broken several records at the box office?
The feeling is happiness and gratitude at the same time because it is a surprising success. I personally thought that the film would catch up and be talked about, people would come to theatres slowly, there would be a word of mouth, or people would watch it on OTT. But the kind of response this film has got from day 1 is unprecedented. I had not imagined this. I have been getting calls from Europe and Australia.
How did you land the role of Farooq Malik Bitta? What was your first reaction to the script?
It’s the hand of destiny that played. I have been doing Marathi films for quite some time and Pallavi Joshi, the producer of The Kashmir Files, and I had worked together on a TV show in 2007. She was the producer, while I was the actor and writer of the show. That show went on to become a huge hit in Marathi. So, Pallavi knew me. Cut to several years later, Vivek Agnihotri was looking for an actor for the role of Farooq Bitta and he had auditioned a lot of North Indian actors but he was not getting what he wanted. Then Pallaviji suggested my name. She told me, “Why don’t you try Chinmay?” So, the obvious first reaction was, “He is a Marathi guy. How can he play a Kashmiri?” I eventually auditioned and maybe whatever I did in the audition was right because Vivek called me and offered me the role.
I was shocked when I read the script for the first time. What the people are now feeling after watching The Kashmir Files was what I experienced after reading the script. I asked Vivek, “Is this all true? Has it actually happened?” He very quietly told me, “Whatever is written in the script is just 35 per cent of what actually has happened.” Because what has actually happened is much more brutal.
You played the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the 2018 Marathi film Farzand, which turned out to be a massive success. A lot of people pointed out how the role of Farooq Malik Bitta was a complete 360-degree change for you as an actor. Were you hesitant at all?
Honestly, there was no hesitation. Because I understood one thing that what The Kashmir Files as a whole was trying to say was much more important and in saying that this character was very instrumental. So, I did not hesitate much. For any actor, getting such a role is dream come true. You get to portray something which is absolutely one end of the spectrum. I saw that he was very important in the telling of the film. I had questions and queries about how we were going to execute this, especially the climax of the film. Till the day we shot it, I was not very sure whether it was going to be shot exactly the way it was written. Vivek was committed to what he had to say and he said it at full throttle.
What was your preparation like for this role?
The character is not only Bitta Karate. It’s a mixture of a few people. I saw a lot of videos. Thankfully, there is a video reference available. The basic prep was to pick a Kashmiri accent because I’m a Marathi guy and picking up that accent was my first task. But Bhasha Sumbli, the girl who played Sharda Pandit, is a Kashmiri and she has been a lot of help to me. She was my coach. It was like a student-teacher relationship with her. As far as the characterisation is concerned, I was sure about one thing that I was not going to mimic anyone. Vivek also agreed and told me, “Just try to understand the psyche of the character who is saying, ‘I would kill my own mother without any qualms’.”
One of the most disturbing scenes in the film comes when your character kills Pushkar Nath’s son and feeds his wife blood-soaked rice. What exactly was going on in your mind while performing it?
They were not easy scenes. I went through a certain kind of emotional turmoil when I was reading the script. I was absolutely shocked. Then I read the actual reference of what happened and found out the guy was actually killed that way and his blood-soaked rice was fed to his wife. It was very unsettling. However, while performing the scene, I had only one thing going on in my mind that it should not look false. If I’m killing a guy in cold blood, I should look like a person who would do something like that. If I’m feeding blood-soaked rice to his wife, it should look convincing. Thankfully, all the actors in the scene including the kid, Prithviraj, were so bang-on because we shot this scene in a very cramped space. Even the director was sitting outside. The energy of the director and all the actors and technicians made it possible. All the scenes were okayed in the first or second take.
The climax of the film is also being talked about a lot wherein an angry Farooq Malik Bitta strips Sharda Pandit in front of a large crowd. Did you speak to Bhasha Sumbli before performing this scene with her?
Yes, Bhasha and I spoke a lot before doing that scene. She is my junior at the National School of Drama. There was no rehearsal. The stripping part could not be rehearsed. Vivek just briefed us on what needed to be done. We did markings for the camera and then we kept talking to each other. I kept telling Bhasha, “Come what may, I won’t let you lose your dignity in any way as a person. So, don’t worry.” Actually, the location was very tricky. It was a very open space and there was a huge crowd around. We shot it in two days. So, it was challenging but we both trusted each other and that helped us perform the scene comfortably.
While the film is largely receiving positive feedback, there’s a section of people who are calling it “propaganda.” How do you react to that?
To each their own. People who have seen the film and are still calling it a propaganda film are entitled to their opinion and I respect it. But for those who are calling it propaganda without watching it, I’d like to say that please don’t discard or reject a film without watching it. Please go and watch it and then you have all the right to call it a bad film. There are people who even call Sholay a bad film so there’s no perfect film and it’s fine.
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