Dalip Tahil often played a villain's role in Hindi films. He told Brut why people think he is a “terrible human being”. 👀
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00:00People think I'm a terrible human being.
00:04I suppose from the roles I do on the screen,
00:06everybody thinks I'm a control freak and I'm a bully.
00:10Okay, okay. I'm sorry.
00:12This is Dalit Tahil for Brute.
00:18Ever since my school days, I was always performing
00:22in the choir and I was always on stage.
00:25And it became a passion with me.
00:26I really enjoyed doing it.
00:28And from there, it became a profession.
00:31As I got into the films and I got into the theatre.
00:34People are still mad at me for killing Hrithik in Kaho Lo Pyaar.
00:39It wasn't my fault.
00:41I was told to do it.
00:42I was more attracted to sort of roles that had
00:45a little bit of power and dynamism in it.
00:48And I think because of that, I gravitated or I was cast
00:53mainly in the strong roles in a film,
00:55which in Hindi cinema is usually the negative person at that time.
01:00It's the bad guys who have all the heavy stuff to do
01:04because the leading man, the romantic man
01:06is busy singing songs and wooing the woman
01:10while the heavy lifting, as they say, is done by the bad guy.
01:22It gave me the label of a character actor.
01:24So I got to play with several different kinds of characters
01:27from comedy to bad guys to good guys.
01:31It sort of helped me not get that cast.
01:38Actually, it works in my favour because people think I'm a terrible human being
01:43because of what they've seen on screen.
01:45So anything that comes after that is usually a pleasant surprise.
01:48I also wanted to do musical roles.
01:50I wanted to sing my own songs because that's what I was doing on stage.
01:54But I never got that opportunity in films.
01:56I have done different kinds of roles.
01:58But yeah, people remember me for certain roles
02:02that resonated with the audience like Baazigar, Kayamat Se Kayamat Tak.
02:06Kayamat Se Kayamat Tak, I wasn't a villain per se.
02:09I mean, I was a strong and emotional father
02:12who takes revenge because of what happens to his sister.
02:19I didn't even think of my age.
02:20It didn't even occur to me that, oh, I'm 33 years old.
02:24How can I play the father?
02:25Nasir Saab also told me that I wasn't the first choice.
02:29And a few actors who were character actors at the time who were much older than me,
02:35but they refused to play because they didn't want to play so-called father roles.
02:40It was like not good for their image to be seen as a father, whatever that means.
02:46People started putting my name to my face all over India with Buniyat
02:52because it was the beginning of television.
02:56And I was playing a good guy in it.
02:58But nobody sort of remembers that.
03:00And I remember my mother being really happy
03:03because I was playing an upright IAS officer who doesn't take bribes,
03:06who doesn't do anything, was very straight, squeaky clean, as we call it.
03:16Buniyat changed that for me.
03:18Though there are times when you feel that enough of people,
03:22everybody calling you Madan Chopra, but on the other hand,
03:26I have to say that it is very gratifying to be remembered for a character.
03:34About three or four years ago, I was traveling in the lift of my building
03:38and there was a very young girl in the lift with me.
03:41She was in her school uniform.
03:43She said, sir, I really like your work.
03:45You're a wonderful, you're a very good actor.
03:47So I looked at her and I first asked her, I said, so how old are you?
03:51About 12.
03:52She said, no, I'm 13.
03:54Very proudly.
03:55So I said, OK, where have you seen me?
03:58Because I was keen to understand as to what she'd seen of mine.
04:02I see you in Ishq, the movie called Ishq.
04:04And she said that it comes on television and I love it.
04:07It's one of my favorite films and I watch it and I like your work.
04:10The old movies that come on television have helped actors like me
04:15to be recognized and to be connected with the new generation and the new audiences.
04:24I'm very excited about my new Instagram thing because really, this is who I am.
04:30If my daughter has a love marriage, would I be able to handle it?
04:33And I'm father, I do father roles.
04:36In Kahamat Se, Kahamat Tak and everywhere I'm playing father roles.
04:39So it comes from that kind of thing.
04:41When I was in my 20s and 30s, I was playing father roles.
04:44And now that, well, I'm a father, obviously.
04:48Myself, I have a 32 year old son, but I'm connecting with Gen Z.
04:55So that's full circle.