I want to explore different roles, my mother is sick of seeing me play the villain: Kelly Dorji

Thimphu: Actor Kelly Dorji says he is done playing negative roles in Indian films and wants to explore more diverse roles on streaming and other platforms for his comeback after a self-imposed hiatus.

Known for his negative turn in films such as Ajay Devgn-The star of “Tango Charlie” and who appeared in Telugu hits like “Don” and “Ek Ka Dum,” Dorji, 53, returned to Bhutan a decade ago to set up multiple businesses, including a travel company and a popular gastropub in Thimphu.

Dorji, who is also co-director of the successful literary festival “Bhutan Echoes”, said acting remains his “first love” but he is not willing to play the typical bad boy.

“My mother never watches my movies all the way through because she knows what’s going to happen. She puts up with me hitting everyone during the movie, but before the movie is over, she leaves it. She says, ‘I know what’s going to happen next, I don’t want to watch it.'”

“I know I’m typecast, I can’t help it. This is my mould for the rest of my life. I’m this villain, Kelly Dorji, the ‘bad guy’. But I’m not that bad in my real life, so I don’t mind exploring something different now,” Dorji told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of the recently concluded ‘Bhutan Echoes’ 2024.

The actor-turned-entrepreneur said he feels lucky that people in India still think of him and call him for new projects from time to time without him putting too much pressure on them.

“During the pandemic, I kept saying ‘no’ to all the offers. I was at the peak of my career, the scripts, of course, were for commercial cinema. When the offers started dwindling, I had a lot to think about. But I have reached a point in my life where I want to go back to my life of amateur theatre, not in theatre itself, but in films or in the theatre medium. That’s when I discovered the possibility of OTT,” Dorji said.

He is excited to star in Season 3 of Netflix’s ‘Delhi Crime’. He also recently appeared in ‘Black Out’ starring Vikrant Massey on Jio Cinema.

Dorji, who considers himself a fan of actor Rajkummar Rao, especially his performances in “Srikanth” and “Monica, O My Darling”, said that if the role is rewarding, he does not mind its duration.

It could be a “shoddy paanwala” or “a tourist queuing at the airport”.

The supermodel-turned-actress, who had a hugely successful modelling career alongside the likes of Milind Soman, Arjun Rampal and Rahul Dev, said the Bhutanese film industry produces “25 to 30 films” a year.

“That’s a very good number for a country that has a very small population of 700,000 people, and the current movie-going population is a fraction of that. So it’s pretty healthy, especially if we can maintain it.”

“I think the numbers are going to go up a bit more, especially with the introduction of our film festival here in Bhutan Echoes… I see future filmmakers in Bhutan,” said the actor, who also acted in the Bhutanese film “Sem Gawai Tasha” in 2011.

This year’s 13th edition of Bhutan Echoes: Drukyul’s Arts and Literature Festival also hosted screenings of national and international films, including Last Film Show, India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

Korean translator and writer Anton Hur, bestselling American writer Will Schwalbe, former diplomat and author Navtej Sarna, novelist Shobhaa De and poet Tishani Doshi were among the 70 distinguished speakers from more than a dozen countries who participated in the recently concluded festival.

PTI—

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