Good Scripts Don't Come To Us, They Go To Bigger People: Naveen Kasturia

One might remember Naveen Kasturia from the one-of-a-kind web series in India, TVF Pitchers or his debut film Sulemani Keeda. He impressed audiences and critics alike with his performances and went on to become a popular household name. The actor, however, shares that it’s a struggle to get a break into this industry.

“When I got my first break in Sulemani Keeda, I wanted people to come and watch it. I thought maybe Indie filmmakers would come to me and make films with me but that didn’t happen. Pitchers, however, changed the game for me. It made me more popular. I didn’t get a lot of films but people got to know about me,” he said, while speaking to News18.com.

Kasturia notes that the struggle of finding a good script and working with good people exists not just in feature films, but also in generating content for digital platforms. “I also want to do more work. I don’t know why people don’t come to me. I am the one approaching people and asking for work.”

“It is difficult to come across good scripts. Good scripts don’t come to you, they go to bigger people. To find a good script and to make good people work with you is a struggle, irrespective of the medium,” he adds.

The actor, who has worked with Naseeruddin Shah in two projects - Adhiraj Bose’s short film Interior Café Night and more recently Sudip Bandhopyadhyay’s Hope Aur Hum, admits that he was intimidated at first. “For Interior Café Night, it was only for one night and we shared screen space only in one shot. But for Hope Aur Hum, we had to shoot for a few scenes together so I was intimidated.”

He adds, “The first day of the shoot was with him where I had to come out and scream at someone and show some kind respondent towards him. In my head, I was a little nervous. In some scenes, I was the one who was dominating him, which was not very easy to do.”

In the film, three parallel narratives flow side by side. Seeped in nostalgia, the film has many moments- some striking, some memorable and some fleeting. In a story told through three generations of the Srivastava family, Kasturia plays Nitin, son of Naseeruddin Shah’s character Nagesh Srivastava. His track, mostly based on chanced encounters, is of a boy who loses his phone but finds love instead. The film also stars Sonali Kulkarni and Aamir Bashir in key roles.