Gulshan Devaiah: Worked in 'Peddlers' purely out of love

Gulshan Devaiah

It's been three years since actor Gulshan Devaiah worked in Vasan Bala's critically acclaimed film "Peddlers" and he still considers it a labour of love.

Gulshan Devaiah. Pic/IANS

"This project is very close to my heart. I don't think I've worked on a film so far in my career purely out of love. If I ask me to choose my best performance from my films so far, I'd pick 'Peddlers' without a doubt," Gulshan told IANS.

Also starring Nimrat Kaur, Nishikant Kamat, Kriti Malhotra and Siddharth Menon, the film is jointly produced by Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap.

Despite receiving critical response when it was screened at International Critics' Week, an independent film event which runs parallel to the Cannes International Film Festival, the movie still awaits theatrical release.

"Guneet has been working on strategy to release the film and it wasn't possible then. She's someone who doesn't release her film just for the heck of it," said Gulshan, and added the film hasn't aged.

"This is not one of those glossy commercial films that have to be released within a time period. It's very realistic and it's not set in a particular time zone, so audiences will relate to it even if it's released five years from now," he said.

It's a "very special" film for the "Shaitan" star because it gave him an opportunity to be a part of the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival.

"I remember the festival director telling us that they've been waiting for such an Indian film for a very long time. It felt so nice and encouraging," he added.

On working in the film, Gulshan said the experience was "enjoyable".

"Vasan is a very organic director and having worked with Anurag Kashyap; he knows his craft well and he's also sort of has taken it to another level with this film," he said.

"He knows how to pick his actors and extract the best out of them. He didn't have a screenplay and therefore, handpicked actors who'd help him in creating scenes without writing them. It was a very creative process for all of us," he revealed.

At the ongoing 17th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, "Peddlers" had its India premiere and had won everybody over.