Dance, energy: 'Bad Cop' co-stars Anurag Kashyap, Gulshan Devaiah on how they first met

Mumbai, Jun 12 (PTI) Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap still remembers the first time he met Gulshan Devaiah, who was a fashion designer in the late 2000s.

Devaiah was dancing with his actor-friend Kalki Koechlin, who was in a relationship with Kashyap at the time. The director liked his energy so much that he ended up casting Devaiah in his 2010 thriller "That Girl In Yellow Boots", headlined by Koechlin.

Kashyap and Devaiah are now set to share screen space as co-stars in "Bad Cop", an action drama series from Disney+ Hotstar.

Recalling their first encounter, Kashyap, 51, told PTI, "One day, he (Devaiah) and Kalki were dancing. He was doing all the steps of Amitabh Bachchan so convincingly. I didn’t know him as an actor, I knew him as somebody who was into fashion and did theatre. 'He is a fashion designer from Bangalore, who does theatre', that’s what Kalki’s introduction was." Kashyap, who was writing "That Girl In Yellow Boots", realised the film's character also comes from Bangalore and Devaiah would be a "natural fit".

"Kalki and I were doing a raunchy dance. They (Anurag and Kalki) weren’t married yet, they were dating and living together. He was Anurag Kashyap, and from somewhere that courage came to (me) to do that dance in front of him. I enjoyed it and I didn’t really care about what he was thinking.

"I hardly knew him. I had met him once at the 'Paanch' screening. He liked the energy (in me), that’s what he told me and later gave me some scenes to do. He liked what I did,” Devaiah, 46, recalled.

  "That Girl In Yellow Boots" marked Devaiah’s acting debut. They later collaborated on films such as “Shaitan”, “Peddlers”, and “Hunterrr” with Kashyap involved as a producer.

“That Girl in the Yellow Boots” became a personal film for the close-knit group of friends involved, Devaiah recalled.

"In a whirlwind of creativity and passion, they brought the story to life in just 13 days, utilising a house as their primary set. He hardly said anything, sometimes he would say things but he never would impose anything.

"I felt very trusted. Here’s Anurag Kashyap, ‘Giving me my opportunity, and he is not saying anything to me’. He is just letting me express myself freely. I had a lot of fun,” he said.

Kashyap added, “I never tell the actor what to do; only sometimes I do. Generally, I trust (actors).”   On "Bad Cop", they are on the opposite side of the fence with Devaiah as the cop and Kashyap as the villain.

Kashyap credited Devaiah for helping him navigate action sequences in the upcoming show.

"He taught me how to be mindful in action scenes because I always get injured while doing action scenes. I did not get injured in ‘Bad Cop’ because he told me how to do it, like count the steps, turn around, do this, do that, etc. It helps," the actor-filmmaker added.

Devaiah said Kashyap taking a chance on him opened many doors. "People started giving me work. Vasan (Bala, director) was on that set, he saw my work and then we worked together (in ‘Peddlers’). A lot of attention happened because of it, and then I was in ‘Shaitan’. I have a career, thanks to that film. I got work subsequently because of that.

"I was cast in 'Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela' because of that, 'Hate Story', and a film with Pooja Bhatt (‘Cabaret’). So, work gets you work. He (Kashyap) showed my scenes to Bejoy (Nambiar), who I knew from before as we had done theatre, he wasn’t looking to cast me in ‘Shaitan’ (but he did). When you get a good opportunity, it creates more opportunities.” For one of the scenes on "Bad Cop", Kashyap said he drew inspiration from Nana Patekar’s 1993 action drama “Tiranga”.

“I picked one scene of Nana Patekar from ‘Tiranga’, where he is putting the body in the machine. I picked that scene as a reference and somewhere I got into the 'sur' (note) and went on to play that,” he said.

"Bad Cop" is described as a classic cop vs villain story with a lot of twists and turns. It is directed by Aditya Datt from a script by Rensil D’Silva. It also features Harleen Sethi, Saurabh Sachdeva and Aishwarya Sushmita in pivotal roles.

The series will premiere on June 21 on Disney+ Hotstar. PTI KKP BK RDS RDS