Rahul Bhat Shares Why Anurag Kashyap Changed Mind About Kennedy Character Right Before Shoot - Exclusive

Anurag

Kashyap is responsible for Rahul Bhat’s acting comeback in 2013 with Ugly. The filmmaker cast the actor in another Cannes film,Kennedy. Only this took around three years to premiere in India. It will be released on February 20 on Zee5. Rahul, who is extremely thankful to the writer-director, shared that he had to make a complete change to his Kennedy character right before the shoot began on the Hindi film. Kennedy, where Rahul plays an insomniac ex-police officer turned hitman, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2023, to a seven-minute standing ovation at the Grand Lumiere theatre.

Rahul Bhat had to make big change ahead of Kennedy’s shoot

Speaking about his third collaboration with Anurag Kashyap, Rahul Bhat told Zoom, “I'm very thankful to him that at least he sees me. It's always fun working with him because he's such an interesting filmmaker. He never repeats himself and is always looking for something else. And if a serious filmmaker like him, who is such a movie fiend, thinks that an actor like me is capable of pulling off these complex roles, I can only show my gratitude to him.”

The actor also shared that right before filming began, Anurag asked him to do a complete 180 about the look of his character on Kennedy. He recalled, “First he told me, 'Let's make it like a ghost like you disappear, you become thin.' I started becoming thin. And after three or four weeks, he met me and said, ‘No, no, no, I want you to be like Bullard. Be very huge and all that.’”Besides the physical transformation, Rahul had to train how to handle a gun and peel an apple for a key scene. He also shared, “Psychologically, it was a very tough part to portray. And it took a toll on me because I was really in it for seven, eight months. Mere toh saare dost, rishtedaar taang aa chuke the mujhse [All my friends and family were tired of me]. This bloody character, get out of it, man. You have to do it for the role.”

Kennedy world premiere at Cannes Film Festival

Career-wise, Rahul ranks Kennedy right at the top of the list. With Kennedy, he got to return to the Cannes red carpet to premiere his film. He stated that for actors and filmmakers, Cannes is a sacred and important film festival, and artists are extremely lucky if their films are selected as part of the official lineup. More so for Indian films, as the official selection list can be counted on one hand.

Remembering the happy and overwhelming moment, Rahul added, “Those are very serious people who watch your film, and they really appreciate art there. The appreciation from that is the high that any artist can get, because when your art reaches the right people, and they appreciate it, understand it. So that was a really emotional moment for all of us.” Kennedy also stars Sunny Leone, Mohit Takalkar, Abhilash Thapliyal, Shrikant Yadav and Megha Burman in key roles.