New Delhi, May 16 (PTI): “Kennedy” is darker than what Anurag Kashyap explored in “Ugly”, says actor Rahul Bhat who believes his role of a cop-turned-assassin is the director’s version of an “angry middle-aged man”.
The upcoming noirish thriller, set for Cannes premiere later this month, follows the titular character working for a corrupt police force with scores to settle. It marks Kashyap and Bhatt’s third collaboration.
“There was once a time when Salim-Javed gave us the angry young man. And this is Anurag Kashyap’s angry middle-aged man,” Bhat told PTI in an interview, referring to Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan’s interpretation of the angry young man in films such as “Deewar”, “Trishul”, “Sholay” and “Shakti”, fronted by Amitabh Bachchan.
With “Kennedy”, Kashyap is returning to the festival where he previously presented titles such as “Raman Raghav 2.0”, “Ugly”, “Bombay Talkies” and the two-part gangster drama “Gangs of Wasseypur”.
Bhat said Kashyap’s “Kennedy” has “a lot of layering”.
“‘Ugly’ is a kid in front of ‘Kennedy’ when it comes to darkness and violence. This movie is something else. It’s more of a psychological and internal journey. Of course, it makes a social commentary and has so many things to say. But the story moves fast and I hope it’ll keep people engaged.”
When Kashyap sent the script, the actor said he felt overwhelmed that the filmmaker considered him for the main part.
“I was so emotionally charged that I could not stop myself from crying. I find myself very lucky that a director of the calibre of Anurag Kashyap thinks that I can pull off characters like these, which are so complex,” he said.
