Tusshar Kapoor with Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey in Bajatey Raho

First things first. What’s a ‘revenge comedy’?

It’s in the space of films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and more recently, Fukrey. It’s actually laugh-out-loud comedy but with dark undertones. You can really enjoy the comedy in this film for its realistic touch, its believability and the emotions attached to it, rather than just the humour. I am getting a lot of positive feedback that it’s looking quite new wave and funky. We are also lucky that the film brings in quite a good group of actors like Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Dolly Ahluwalia and many more.

What do you play in the film?

My character Sukhi is a Delhi guy who has always had a very difficult relationship with his father. Through the course of the film, we come to know why the relationship is the way it is. Now Sukhi wants to avenge something that had happened to his father and bring his self-respect back. He goes about doing the right thing but in all the wrong ways!

We’ve seen you in over-the-top comedies like the Golmaal films. How different was the Bajatey Raho experience?

The kind of performance that was required of me in the Golmaal films was that I had to be totally mad and crazy. In Bajatey Raho, the humour coming out of my performance had to be more subtle and restrained. Sukhi is a man on a mission and he’s doing it very seriously. Through the film, he’s doing the maddest things with the utmost conviction. It’s hopefully a character that the audience will feel for and even admire.

How is preparing for a comic role different from doing so for any other role?

Well, I kind of mentally condition myself before a shot. In a comedy film, I try and be in a happy and carefree frame of mind so that it reflects in my performance. What really helps me prepare is the camaraderie I establish with my co-actors. The more I get acclimatised to their nature off-set helps me while working with them in a shot.

How was it working with Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak?

It was a little difficult for me in the beginning, but in a couple of days, I got to know them better. Eventually, we became like family because we would work long hours on set in Delhi trying to finish the film. They are both chilled out and not your regular mainstream competitive actors. I had to be constantly on my toes trying to match up to them.

We last saw you as a hardened criminal in Shootout at Wadala. Are serious roles more of a challenge for you considering you mostly do comedies?

A film like Shootout… came with its own challenges. Every character I have done has required a certain homework, a certain kind of study and has made me tap into some part of my inner self. I really enjoyed Shootout… because it gave me the opportunity to go back to the franchise after (Shootout at) Lokhandwala and Sanjay Gupta (the director) did a very good job in bringing each character alive.

Your sister Ekta recently went to Harvard for a month-long business development course. Any plans of going back to school?

(Laughs) Ekta wanted to do this for a long time and she enjoyed her month-long stay at Harvard. It opened up a lot of doors for her in terms of her mindset as a businesswoman. Well, I don’t have any plans of following in her footsteps as such, but who knows? In life, as in movies, you keep learning.