Sumeet Kant Kaul, an accomplished theatre artist from Delhi; also the maternal grandson of Yeshwant Pethkar, the pioneer Producer-Director of Indian cinema who gave break to legendary actors, Dev Anand and Pran in Aghe Bado and Apradh and directed Madhubala, Geeta Bali, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar etc. Taking the legacy ahead, Sumeet debuts as the antagonist, where other Bollywood stars fear to tread, in a film called Pakhi, based on child trafficking, to release on 10th August, 2018.
“Every eight minutes a child is being kidnapped. Every one hour, a child is being trafficked in our country. The child could be yours or mine. This issue disturbed my mind and heart,” says actor-spiritual healer and karmayogi Sumeet Kant Kaul who makes his feature film debut with Pakhi.
A theatre actor for the last half decade, Sumeet has essayed roles ranging from a lover boy to a 65-year-old man to a negative character. The current film sees Sumeet Kant Kaul play a negative character who snatches children to drown them in the quicksand of prostitution and child marriage.
For a debut actor who radiates positivity and heals minds, it has been a challenging role for the young man.
“As a Karmayogi, it is my mission to spread positivity. In Pakhi, I play a contrarian role to my actual character. Here I was the sutradhar who mirrored shocking and despicable atrocities in society who is the don of the flesh/trafficking trade.”
Taking a leaf from Heath Ledger’s The Joker fromBatman, Sumeet Kant Kaul etched out the nuances of his larger-than-life character of Bali, a menacing character in Pakhi. “I began to live the character of Bali and as a method actor I used to imagine this character being equivalent to 100 Ravans. Bali believed that Dark Forces were protecting him and he used to think that he was invisible. I used to live in that zone, live those emotions and bring out the energy that I radiate onscreen.”
Sumeet Kant Kaul seeks his inspiration from Amitabh Bachchan, Anthony Hopkins and Ranveer Singh and attributes his histrionics to the fact that he began his career as an Assistant Director, learning the ropes of filmmaking as much as facing the camera.
“I am glad that the trailer of my film, Pakhi, is being received well by the audiences. It is an eye-opener. Each of us needs to take the story forward and spread the message and make this world a better place,” signs off Sumeet Kant Kaul.
