Kashmir to Cannes: Rahul Bhat on 'Kennedy' and his new innings in Bollywood

Strangely, Anurag Kashyap's acclaimed film Kennedy, with actor Rahul Bhat as its protagonist, stays unreleased in India, but is popular the world over. Bhat's role in the film is that of a cop who is declared dead in records, but is actually alive and functioning. Like its 'ghost cop,' the film's fame, till now, lies in it being unseen.

"The number of DMs (direct messages) I have received from fans asking for its release is maddening," says Bhat who was in Dubai for the film's screening at the Mitti Indian Independent Film Festival in association with SAANJH, along with his mentor, the eminent filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and its producer Ranjan Singh. The film got a seven-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.

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Raised in Vichar Nag, near Srinagar, Kashmir, Bhat dreamt of becoming a Bollywood actor early on. But tragedy struck when he and his family had to go through the trauma of moving to Jammu during the Kashmiri Pandit exodus of 1989-90. "We thought we would leave home to return but we never did. So, I don't have any childhood pictures. Everything we had back home was plundered and pillaged," says the actor who was once the highest paid actor on television.

Bhat moved from Jammu to Mumbai after high school, borrowing money from his father to pursue his dreams. In Mumbai, he got a chance to choreograph fashion shows, won modelling competitions and at 19, landed a plum role in the Hindi TV show Henna that catapulted him to fame and acclaim. While staying at the PMGP colony in Andheri East (“because it had the cheapest rents”), he met Anurag Kashyap. "I used to flaunt a good physique and was a gym rat. Anurag thought I was a joker," he laughs.

His TV career took off and from Rs 7,000 (Dh288 approximately) per episode, his fee shot up to Rs 1 lakh (Dh4,118 approximately) per episode. "I don't earn that kind of money today," he says. "I blew it up on cars and friends. Everyone who came from Kashmir could stay in my house for days," he adds.

It was his big Bollywood break that broke him. His debut film Yeh Mohabbat Hai, directed by Umesh Mehra flopped  miserably, leaving him disillusioned. Then came films like Nayee Padosan, which were again critical and commercial duds. By then, he was married and his sensibilities started changing, watching films and learning from them."Since my wife was from the US, I got an exposure to a lot of Hollywood films. In that phase I consumed cinema and read a lot. And would get even more disappointed with the roles I was offered.”

This knowledge of cinema led him to take a break from acting while turning producer with TV shows under his company Filmtonic. But life changed when he met Kashyap again. 

"I met Anurag Kashyap in 2012 and he asked me why I wasn't acting. He had already become a big name, having written Satya and similar films. At that time, he was making Gangs of Wasseypur. He called me home and narrated the script of Ugly which went to Cannes. Later, I worked on Dobaara and then Kennedy happened," he adds.

Bhat values his friends in the industry and Anurag is his go-to person and his 2 am friend. "I call him when I want to rant, complain or seek advice," he adds, saying that the unreleased Kennedy has given him more acclaim than any of his other films. "The character was intense and I had to do Kashyapesque-things like learning to peel an apple in one go and load my gun blindfolded. I was even asked to stay awake for days to look like an insomniac. Anurag never tells you what to do. He doesn't feed the actor, yet directs them. His work is magical.”

In his new avatar as a serious actor, does he watch his old films and cringe? “Yes but I also look at the young boy from Kashmir who dreamt big without anyone to guide him,”he adds. 

Bhat will be soon seen in Madhur Bhandarkar’s, The Wives, Lost and Found in Kumbh, directed by Dhoom writer Mayur Puri and an upcoming Netflix series. 

Does playing dark characters like Kennedy and Ugly take a toll on him? “ The ups and downs in an actor’s life are like ornaments. I derive from it while at my job,” he states. 

And how does he carry his Kashmiri heritage through his work?

“When you are silent, your mind wanders to places that have solace. In the silence I feel my home, my Kashmir.” He is now working on his next film on Kashmir, drawn out of his personal experiences.