Have you watched Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota? I am internally screaming for all the no, I haven’ts because the movie is unmissable (and because I can’t throw in references from it now).
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There are many good things about this action-packed tribute to the genre. The genius of Gulshan Devaiah is one of them.
I left the hall smiling at the clever childishness of the narrative and I thought to myself, why is the industry not casting Gulshan in main roles?
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Apart from Hunterr – where he plays the role of a sex addict – I can’t think of a single mainstream movie resting on his shoulders and that’s our loss as much as his.
Gulshan has a double role: That of a karate master Mani and his mafia twin brother Jimmy in Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota. For a major part of the movie, he is present in almost every frame but I wasn’t bored for a second.
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Without giving away too much, I will say that the brothers don’t get along with each other. At all.
One is supremely talented, coy and physically handicapped. The other kills for a living, hates his brother and ironically runs a ‘security’ business.
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Gulshan executes all of that with so much ease, it takes you a moment to realise it’s the same person playing the two characters that are poles apart in their nature and mannerisms.
How does he do it? I don’t know. But I do know that he has been wowing us for a while now.
Case in point: His role in Shaitan. In one of my favourite movies across genres and languages, Gulshan plays the role of young rich brat – KC – and shines through and through.
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He is someone who will hookup while his family is doing a pooja and smash a glass bottle on the head of a guy who tries to get cosy with a girl from his friend group.
He is reckless and lacks direction, drive or manners.
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In complete contrast, he brings to life the character of a Bengali man Nandu in Death In The Gunj. Nandu is playful but responsible, he understands the duties of a father but also knows how to have fun with his friends.
Again, he is not the central character but again, it is tough to keep your eyes off him.
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He also plays a small but important part in Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela as cousin of Leela (played by Deepika Padukone).
Playing hot-headed Bhavani, Gulshan makes complete use of the screen time given to him in a movie that revolves so heavily around the characters it is named after.
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Identical twins from South India, irresponsible young guy from Mumbai, a Bengali father, an aggressive Gujarati man and a sex addict – Gulshan Devaiah has displayed enough potential and versatility for us to know that he can pull off pretty much any character in any movie.