While getting mic-ed up for this particular conversation, Rajkummar Rao and Prosenjit Chatterjee were having an all-important discussion — that about Rajkummar padding up to play Sourav Ganguly in the former Indian cricket captain’s biopic.

“I have already started prepping for the role, though we go on the floors only next year,” said Raj. Having joined in the conversation, I asked him what has it been like so far. “Pretty good,” smiled the versatile actor, but added: “It is just that I am right-handed and he is left-handed, so muscle memory is coming into play. I will be okay with more practice,” he smiled.

For now, however, Raj is looking forward to his July 11 big-screen release, Maalik, which has the always affable actor playing a gangster for the first time. Directed by Pulkit — the man who delivered the fiery Bhumi Pednekar film Bhakshak last year — Maalik is said to be inspired by Fahadh Faasil’s 2021 film Malik, but given the sheer acting talent it boasts — Raj, Prosenjit, Saurabh Shukla, Saurabh Sachdeva, Swanand Kirkire, Manushi Chhillar and Anshumaan Pushkar — and its action-packed trailer, the film promises to be a heady ride.

Last week, t2 made its way to the Sun-n-Sand Hotel in Mumbai’s Juhu to engage in a conversation with Rajkummar, Prosenjit and Manushi on their film.

What is that one reason that made you go: ‘Maalik is a film and a role that I shouldn’t let go of?’

Rajkummar Rao: I have known Pulkit (the director of the film) for a very long time. We worked together in Bose (Bose: Dead/Alive). When he came to me with Maalik, I read the script and was absolutely immersed in it. The arc of the character (Maalik), from where he starts to where he is in the end, is beautiful. I thought that as an actor, there will be so much to explore.

Even all the other characters are so well written... everything is complex yet detailed. I always want to do something that I haven’t done before and Maalik gave me the opportunity and the thrill to be a gangster for the first time.

But you were a part of Gangs of Wasseypur...

I was, but it was a small part and Maalik has me leading the film. Gangs of Wasseypur was a great experience, no doubt, but I was hungry to do more.

Prosenjit and Manushi, why did you want to do Maalik?

Prosenjit Chatterjee: For me, it was very sudden. I don’t do Hindi films regularly. I got a call from Mukesh (Chhabra, casting director) and I met Pulkit. The first meeting lasted around 20-25 minutes. When he started narrating the script, I saw so much fire in him. I have been working for 40 years and I meet all kinds of people. But with Pulkit, I generally felt that yeh ladke ke andar bahut fire hain, that he wants to prove something.

When I work on national projects, my first question to a director — whether it is Dibakar (Banerjee, Shanghai) or Vikram (Vikramaditya Motwane, Jubilee) — always is: ‘Why me?’ The way Pulkit narrated my role in Maalik made me feel that it needs me. The character has a lot of swag and is one of the principal players. He really wanted me to be a part of this film.

And, of course, working with Raj and the great team was a bonus. This is a commercial film, it is an entertaining film. You have the aesthetics, but the feel is also real and raw. You have action, dance and romance but it is very real.
Manushi Chhillar: For me, it was the challenge of playing someone who is a part of this world. The idea behind the film and its world had me excited. I was in a space where I wanted to prove myself and I felt this was an opportunity that I didn’t want to let go of.

With this film, I realised it is very important to work with good human brings and not just people who are great at their work. That energy was there throughout the shoot, whether it was the producer, director, all my co-actors.... This film came at the right time when I needed that experience. I wanted to see how far I could go if given a role like this.

Manushi, what was it like to be one of the few women in this testosterone-driven world?

Manushi: All these characters have their own drive, they all have their battles. She (her character Shalini) is that one stable pillar in the life of Maalik. Shalini has been introduced as ‘Maalik ki mohabbat’. She is a simple, small-town girl who is otherwise very strong-headed and opinionated. She is a silent support to her partner but, at the same time, she puts her view across. Every man, no matter how ambitious he is, needs a woman who grounds him and centres him.

Over and above the script, what was it that you brought to your parts that you felt was uniquely you?

Rajkummar: As actors, it is our job to bring in our own element to a character, to figure out how to make it different and take it to the next level from what it is on paper. In my case, I was sure about the kind of look I wanted for Maalik. I gained a lot of muscle for the role because there is a different kind of power that you feel when you gain muscle... your walk changes, the way you look at things change.

As an actor, I am very impulsive. Once I see the character in my mind — his voice, his walk, the look — then I just go with the flow. I don’t plan much because I know the character now, I know the traits now... what I have to do is react to the situation. I can’t sit back and then the night before, just rehearse my scenes and say: ‘I am going to do this, I am going to do that’. I improvise a lot, I love doing it. It happened in the case of Maalik too. But because the world was such and Pulkit is such a fabulous director, he would always keep us in check. He would give us freedom but in case he felt it was going haywire, he would always pull us back into the scene. He is very clear about what he wants.
Prosenjit: I have played a cop many times before and some of them have gone on to become cult characters. My challenge lay in making the policeman I play in Maalik different from those I have played before. This man has a lot of shades and while Pulkit is the one who guided us on set, I used my experience and maturity to further help create the character. He has swag, but he is also very human.

What do you think it is about the world of gangsters that, though alien to most, makes for such compelling viewing on screen?

Rajkummar: To be honest, I was dying to play a gangster! I was very keen to explore the darker side of a character in a story and Maalik offered me that. I love (Martin) Scorsese’s gangster films because, as Bumbada (Prosenjit) said, they are humans. They are humans who have taken different paths.

To answer your question, you will notice that as viewers, we are more drawn towards the dark, the grey, the bad. If you switch on the news, you will be more interested in watching a story which is in that zone. It is human psychology. I may tell you a story about a guy who has done a lot for society, who has planted 10,000 trees and a story about a man who has perhaps committed a murder... you are more likely to want to know more about the second guy. That is the reason why we are also drawn towards the gangster genre.
Manushi: If you see a film like Gangs of New York, it is not just about a man going around and killing people. Every character has a story and their actions — good or bad — are justified in some way. Like sir (Prosenjit) said, in Maalik, everyone has their own shades and they have their reasons as to why they are doing what they are doing. It humanises the idea of a gangster a lot more. The audience enjoys the journey of recognising the point of view of different people.

Do you have perennial favourites in the genre?

Rajkummar: Scarface is certainly right on top. I love Gangs of New York... Bill the Butcher (aka William Cutting, played by Daniel Day-Lewis) is one of my favourite characters of all time. The Departed is amazing. The reason we love Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight is because he is a bad guy. Of course, the way he performed was insane.
Manushi: I find it a little difficult to watch violence but if there is a story to it, then I enjoy it.
Prosenjit: The Godfather films are, of course, classics in the genre.
Rajkummar: Yes, for sure. You can’t go wrong with that. I think it is a great example because it is essentially a story about human beings who happen to be in the business of mafia. It is about a family, about a son....

In humanising such characters, one may end up glorifying violence. How does Maalik navigate that tricky terrain?

Rajkummar: The way Maalik has been written makes it clear that it is set in a fictional world. It is, as Bumbada said, a commercial film made for entertainment. It is often said: ‘People will watch this and get inspired by it’. But I ask: ‘Why don’t people get inspired watching Shool? Or by watching Newton?’ Why can’t they get inspired by such films and say: ‘Oh, let’s be a good person’. Why do we want to get inspired only to be a bad person? Cinema is there to entertain you and sometimes to also tell you a few things which are important in life. A balance needs to be maintained.

In Maalik, we are not glorifying gangsterism or violence. We are just telling a story which is a human story about this guy jo maalik paida nahin hua hain lekin banna chahta hain... aur bann jaata hain.
Manushi: There is a reason why it is called larger than life. What is happening on screen might take you on an emotional journey, but that doesn’t mean you have to replicate it in the real world. There is a reason why it is happening on screen and not in person.
Prosenjit: You don’t become maalik overnight. This film tells the story of how he goes on to become one. It is a gangster story told in a very different way.
Rajkummar: And his thought is not that you become maalik by becoming a gangster. He wants to rise in life, like all of us do.

What went into perfecting the portrayal of your characters?

Manushi: This is the first film where I was given a lot of freedom to explore. Raj was talking about how he prepped for his character, but mine was quite exploratory. Pulkit and I would sit and discuss the character. It took us hours to see what works... there was a lot of experimenting and figuring things out. He knew exactly what he wanted her to feel like and to get that feeling right took a bit of time. There was a certain fear because I hadn’t done something like this before... and he (looks at Raj), does improvise a lot! (Laughs) He is a lovely actor to work with. It also pushes you as a co-actor and you feed off each other’s energy and effort on set. At the same time, there is a lot of freedom in just being and allowing yourself to do and see where it goes. And hence, you also need the right co-actors and the kind of director who will be there to tell you: ‘Hey this was not right, let’s do it differently’ or ‘Hey, this was great’.

It might sound like a paradox but this character both put me on the spot as well as gave me freedom. It was also quite relieving not having to think about how you are looking... that burden was taken off.
Rajkummar: My challenge was about how to make it different. We have had some high-action gangster films in the recent past, and I had to figure out how to make this character my own. The idea was to make him human and very believable, make the viewer feel that what you see on screen is actually happening to someone. The graph, the arc of the character is so beautifully written that you will be with him from frame one till the last frame.
Prosenjit: We did a lot of look tests and it lasted several hours. After a few days, I went back to Calcutta and Pulkit called me saying: ‘Dada, I don’t think you need any other look... just come with your beard. Don’t shave’! (Laughs) I also gained a little weight for this character.

Like all other good, top-level directors, Pulkit gently gives a nudge when he feels that as an actor, you should do something. Sometimes, it may be just a word, but that really helps. My regular Bengali audience will be a little shocked to see my character in Maalik, but they will love him too.
Rajkummar: You (looks at Prosenjit) are fabulous in the film.

Raj, which is your favourite Prosenjit performance?

Rajkummar: I have watched a lot of his work, but most recently, I really admired him in Jubilee. He was fabulous! I also watched and liked Khakee: The Bengal Chapter. But what he did in Jubilee was astonishing. It was not an easy part to play... the role of a film industry mogul. To understand that world is not easy, but he got it bang on.

Bumbada, do you have a favourite Rajkummar Rao film?

Prosenjit: All his films are great, but Shahid is right up there. I also loved Srikant... I went and watched it in a theatre in Bombay. I had tears in my eyes, he was so good in it. I have watched bits and pieces of Maalik, and I am so impressed by what he has done. Raj doesn’t ‘act’... that is his beauty as an actor.

I watch the work of young actors, not only those in Bombay but also in Calcutta, because I feel that it is my duty to watch them in order to be able to work with them smoothly.

Raj, what is it about Bumbada, as a person and an actor, that inspires you?

Rajkummar: His hunger to do good work. He so fit, he is still killing it with his looks. His hunger, his greed to explore different characters and to work with new makers and to be a part of exciting stories, is inspiring. I am sure he has done enough work that he can just sit back and live his life in the best way possible. But then, once an actor, always an actor. He cannot ever retire... he is the kind of actor who has to work till the last day. He reminds a lot of how Anil sir (Anil Kapoor) is. I don’t know what kind of food they eat! (Laughs)

For Patra (wife Patralekhaa) and me, Bumbada is the most important person we have in Calcutta. If we need anything related to Calcutta, we can always pick up our phones and call him. He is always there.

Finally, who is the ‘maalik’ of your life?

Rajkummar: I have a couple of maaliks. Patralekha is the number one maalik of my life. God is my maalik. My parents aren’t with me physically any more but I am 100 per cent sure that they are still my maalik... they are looking after me.
Manushi: I am my maalik (smiles). No one decides for me.
Prosenjit: For me, as you all know, it is my mother. And, of course, God. The biggest maalik is my audience who has been with me for the last 40 years. They are my ultimate maalik.