Don’t Want To Be Boxed As An Actor: Dulquer Salmaan On Sita Ramam And His Acting Choices

Dulquer Salmaan talks about Sita Ramam, his love for period films, foraying into different industries, and his future plans
Don’t Want To Be Boxed As An Actor: Dulquer Salmaan On Sita Ramam And His Acting Choices

Dulquer Salmaan, who is gearing up for the release of Sita Ramam, loves acting in period films. In the love story set in the 60s, the actor plays lieutenant Ram, who falls in love with Sita Mahalakshmi (Mrunal Thakur). Talking about his love for period films, the actor says, "First of all, I feel I should have been born in that era, I love that period. I'll let you in on a little secret – I have committed to one more Tamil film which is also from the same era. When I was younger, I used to wonder if they would make period cinema when I start acting. Because my dad's generation used to do a lot of period movies like big folktales. After a point, I thought we might not have the budget to do it in today's expenses. So, when it finally started happening, since I'm a sucker for it, I'm like yes. I love it." 

"I enjoy the clothes; I love every art property on the set. As soon as I come on set, I keep looking for it. I have a lot of photos on my phone. Because I feel like I'm there, I'm in that time," he adds. 

Dulquer has been foraying into different industries over the past few years. For instance, in 2022, he worked on Hey Sinamika in Tamil, Salute in Malayalam, and Sita Ramam in Telugu. The actor says that he chooses films based on the script. "I'm sure there's a fraction of film lovers and fans who have a problem with me doing this. I've been jumping from industry to industry. So, when I come to Tamil, for instance, they are like why such a long gap between your Tamil films, if I go to Malayalam or Telugu, I get the same complaint. But since I'm doing this, you can only do so much at a time. I can't even plan one in each language. So now I'm just like, if I love the script and the idea, I'll do it. I'm not going to think about which language," he says.

The actor says that he connects with the generation of today, which is all about experiencing life to the fullest. "So, I get to hang out with these (Sita Ramam team) amazing people in their state and see all of India through this film. Or I'll be doing a Malayalam film with my production house with my boys – the experiences are so amazing. Or I'll come back to Chennai and do a Tamil film. So, I don't know, I could be wrong, this could be a very bad idea and I could fail miserably and not be anywhere. But nobody knows and even I don't know. So, I'm going with my gut," says Dulquer. 

Talking about his future plan, the Sita Ramam actor says, "I don't want people to see me on screen, I want them to see the characters I play. When I started out, I was so stubborn about building my own identity different from my father's and I think I almost have become very identifiable now as Dulquer or DQ or whatever this commodity that I have become. So I now want to be known for my films and roles. I think those should speak more than me being in the film. After Sita Ramam, I don't want to do love stories for a while. I don't want to be boxed, as I am looking at all genres. If I have not done it, if I am scared of it, let's do it."

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