KATHMANDU, Jan 8: Friendly and calmly spoken, one may not be convinced that Puskar Bhatta is a villain in his reel life if one hasn’t seen him in person. It’s only when one sees him standing tall and robust that the pieces fit in. His is a face that’s familiar to those who have been following Kollywood.
He has appeared in over 60 Nepali movies over his nine-year acting career. He can be seen in various negative roles in Kollywood movies such as Virasat, Dosti, Ma Birsu Kasari and Brake Fail.[break]
Bhatta, originally from a food and beverages background, hadn’t intended to take up acting seriously. He credits fellow actor Biraj Bhatt for introducing him to acting in the movies. “Biraj Bhatt and I are originally from the same place,so I knew him. I had simply accompanied him during a shooting one day when the director of the movie came up to me and offered me a small appearance role. After some thought, I agreed to be in a few scenes, but I had no dialogues,” shares Bhatta. This opened a new door for him, and the next thing he knew, he was also accepting an offer to play in a small negative role as the personal assistant (PA) to a government minister in the movie Agni Jwala.
“After my performance, my seniors encouraged me to continue, and hence, I started playing small roles in a few movies,” shares Bhatta. Today, he’s one of the appreciated actors in Kollywood, playing negative roles.
After establishing himself in Nepal, he has also moved to work in the Bhojpuri movie industry. This, too, he shares, is through the help of Biraj who has already become an acclaimed name in the Bhojpuri movie industry.
As for himself, he has already been cast in ten Bhojpuri movies such as Durga, Daag, Jabaaz, Jigarwale and recently signed in for two new movies during his latest visit to India. He juggles between Nepal and India, Kollywood and Bhojpuri cinema industry, and earns his living solely out of acting in movies. “It’s a struggle, but I’ve managed to take care of a family of six members,” shares Bhatta.
Initially, Bhatta only opted to do negative roles because negative roles in Kollywood usually meant that his character didn’t have to dance or be starkly good looking. However, with experience, he realized that acting in negative roles has its own share of challenges. But he has been able to accept and overcome the challenges and is liked by the Nepali audience.
“I think the Nepali audience appreciates me the most because I work a lot on my getup and try to adopt a new look for different movies,” he says, adding, “I’ve even been tagged as the Nepali Gulshan Grover.”
Commenting on the current Nepali movie scenario, Bhatta laments at the poor state that it is in. “The condition of our country parallels with the condition of Kollywood,” says he.
Although hopeful about the new trends of movies that are coming up, he says that the way in which everyone seems to become an actor in Kollywood is really disturbing. “Just because one looks at the mirror and thinks he’s handsome, he thinks he can become a hero.
Producers turn into heroes just because they have their money in the movies,” Bhatta laments. Although this is really harming the industry, Bhatta, however, is hopeful that this will change for the better.
Be it in Nepali or Bhojpuri films, Puskar Bhatta aims to continue with his acting career but says that he’ll always give more priority to acting in Nepali movies as much as he can.
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