Tigmanshu Dhulia returns to acting

After his highly-acclaimed acting debut in Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs Of Wasseypur, filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia, currently swamped in two back-to-back directorial undertakings, has been persuaded to face the camera again. This time it’s for Ketan Mehta’s Mountain Man, the bio-pic on the unsung Bihari hero Dashrath Manjhi who dug a road through a mountain from his remote village to the nearest city. Dhulia, one was pleased to hear, had been persuaded to play a negative character once again by Ketan Mehta. Apparently when Dhulia begged off citing his water-tight schedule, Ketan insisted only Tigmanshu could play the part. On Sunday Tigmanshu drove to Wai on the outskirts of Mumbai to shoot for the film. Says the filmmaker, “Ketan said he had a role for me in Mountain Man. I play the evil mukhiya of a village in Bihar. I couldn’t say no to Ketan. I’ve been a fan of his work forever. So here I am once again heading to the badlands, all thanks to Anurag Kashyap.” The nominations for best debutant have already started for Tigmanshu’s performance in Gangs Of Wasseypur, alongside the other filmmaker-turned-actor Farah Khan. Laughs Tigmanshu, “I don’t know Farah’s plans. But I’ve no intention of pursuing an acting career. Main direction mein khush hoon. I did Gangs Of Wasseypur for Anurag Kashyap. Now I am doing Mountain Man for Ketan. That’s it. I’ve 6-7 scenes .” Incidentally Tigmanshu is a trained actor from the Nation school Of Drama. “And just to set the record straight, Gangs Of Wasseypur is technically not my acting debut. I had one shot with Shah Rukh Khan in Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.”