A daring cop and a dashing actor – combine them both and you get Mr. Anirudha Singh. Yes, this is what he is all about. Apart from his work in the police force, he is also known for a talent that he enjoys showcasing to the world – his talent for acting!
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, he talks about his passion for acting and how he landed the role in a multi-starrer Bollywood movie.
GUNS OF BANARAS
A remake of the 2007 Tamil film ‘Polladhavan’, Guns of Banaras, a contemporary action drama, was being directed by popular film director, Shekhar Suri, on the streets of Banaras, when the public started gathering in huge numbers on the sets and began disturbing the shooting process.
The shooting coordinator called up Mr. Anirudha Singh and requested him to come to the place where the movie was being shot and manage the crowd. When the officer reached the place and was doing his duty, the head of the production team observed how dashing he was. That’s when he decided to offer the police officer a role in his film.
“I played a small character in the film and my journey into acting began from there,” he told Indian Masterminds.
ACP IN A TELUGU FILM
After his first acting venture, the officer started getting recognized by directors from all over the country. He was offered a role in a Telugu film, where he had to play the character of an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
“The movie called Dr. Chakravarti was based on a real-life incident that happened in Mumbai. It was a crime thriller whose main antagonist was a murderous doctor who wanted to kill his own family for money,” said Mr. Singh, while narrating the storyline.
Next, Mr. Singh also starred in a web series called The Red Land, before finally getting his big Bollywood break with Bhuj – The Pride of India.
BHUJ – THE PRIDE OF INDIA
Mr. Singh played the role of the younger brother of famous actor Sanjay Dutt’s character, Ranchordas Savabhai Rabari, in this movie based on the Indo-Pak war. He starred in the movie alongside some big Bollywood names like Ajay Devgan, Sonakshi Sinha, Nora Fatehi, Rana Daggubatti, and Parineeti Chopra, among others.
He believes that the only drawback of this multi-starrer movie Bhuj was that due to the Covid19 restrictions, it was released on the OTT platform, Disney+ Hotstar, because of which numerous scenes of the movie had to be cut, resulting in the release of just 1.5 hour of the three-hour film reel.
“They had to do away with several family scenes and other important elements that were there in the script otherwise,” stated the officer.
BALANCING WORK AND PASSION
Talking about how he managed to shoot for the film, alongside his busy schedule as a police officer, Mr. Singh explained that these days shooting process does not require long hours of rehearsals, practices, and editing, like in the olden days.
“They mail you the synopsis along with the dialogue and give you the freedom to include your own perception of the character while acting. The other things are explained by the director on the spot. Everything happens rapidly, and in case some scene goes wrong, they immediately take a retake of the shot, and we’re done with it. The elimination of excess drama and dialogues helps in a quick pack-up, too,” he told Indian Masterminds.
Mr. Singh has not only made a mark for himself in the film industry, but he is also imprinting the name of Uttar Pradesh Police in India’s tinsel town, Bollywood.
