DU prof Keval Arora plays Rajkummar Rao’s father in Omertà

He is the man behind Players, one of the most reputed theatre societies of Delhi University. His students include the likes of Zeeshan Ayyub, Ali Abbas Zafar, Divyendu Sharma and Sushant Singh – to name a few. The name Keval Arora is not just limited to the theatre circuit of Delhi, but is also responsible for mentoring many in the film industry during their initial theatre days. And with the release of the film 'Omertà', Keval Arora is making his Bollywood debut and playing the father of British-Pakistani terrorist Omar Sheikh, played by Rajkummar Rao.
Keval Arora with Hansal Mehta (centre) and Rajkummar Rao (extreme right) on the sets of Omertà

“I had seen Hansal Mehta’s 'Shahid' before this, and I really liked it. One day, I was taking a class at KMC and someone kept calling me. But since I was in class, I kept cutting it. When I finally took the call, maine gusse mein uthaya, sochke ki kaun hai joh baar-baar call kare ja raha hai. It turned out to be casting director Mukesh Chhabra, but back then, I did not know who he was. A colleague sitting next to me heard the name and asked me to take the call. Mukesh told me that he had recommended my name to Hansal Mehta for this film. I said yes, but only because I had really liked the movies that Hansal Mehta had made before. I asked Zeeshan (Ayyub) about Hansal, since he had worked with him in 'Shahid', and he said, ‘Haan keh do, you will enjoy it’. The phrase that he used was that Hansal is an ‘actor’s director’, and on sets, he will give you a lot of freedom to improvise and you will get comfortable. I asked Hansal for a copy of the script, though I had already said yes to the team. I also asked Mukesh when the audition was, and he said that audition ka pata nahi hai, because mine was the only name he had recommended,” says the DU professor.
Keval Arora
Keval says his ‘informal’ audition took place during the first leg of the shooting. “I consider it an audition, but it was not a formal audition. I had gone to Patiala for the first leg of shooting. We were not shooting my scene as the crew had not gotten the permission to shoot at the proposed place. I was told ki ‘aap ruk jao ek din, hum doosra scene shoot kar rahe hain’. I decided to go to the shoot and see how it works, and that was the first time I saw Hansal at work. Suddenly, I was asked to get into costume and I was thinking, ‘mera scene toh hai nahi’. Rajkummar was also getting into costume.We had not met till then. We both were in underclothes, as our shirts and pants were getting ready, and he suddenly started talking to me as if I was his father. I improvised and started talking as if he’s my son. Soon, we started behaving like Omar and Saeed Sheikh, sitting somewhere in London and discussing a problem. We kept up the improv act, and finally, the costume in-charge came up to us and said, ‘Bulawa aa raha hai, pant pehenoge ki nahi?’ When I went outside, Rajkummar had already told Hansal about the improvisation, and in my head, I thought it was an audition,” he tells us.

Talking about facing the camera, Keval adds, “In my lectures, I have to talk about the difference between cinema and stage acting. Mujhe stage acting ka toh tajurba hai, par cinema acting ka nahi hai. I remember one lecture, which I was giving at the Sri Ram Centre on the world drama that I was doing there. And I thought to myself, I am such a hypocrite. Camera ke saamne maine kabhi koi sustained acting toh ki nahi hai, how can I talk about cinema then? I have always volunteered for students from MCRC or IP College if they wanted an older actor, but I didn’t have a sustained experience in this before Omertà.”