A vastly underrated actor, Rahul Bhat always seems to reserve his best for film-maker Anurag Kashyap. After a searing act in Kashyap’s 2013 film Ugly took the duo to the Cannes Film Festival that year, Kennedy — in which Bhat plays the title character, a former cop who kills with abandon and is directed by Kashyap and co-stars Sunny Leone — will premiere at the Midnight Screenings section at this year’s edition of the prestigious festival that draws the biggest names in cinema from across the world. The Telegraph caught up with Rahul Bhat before he zipped off to Cannes. We spoke about why Kennedy is his darkest character yet and how he and Anurag share a ‘divine connection’.

Rahul with Anurag Kashyap

What was your first reaction when you heard about Kennedy’s selection at Cannes?

It got announced at the last minute and we had thought ki shayad iss baar nahin ho raha hain. And we were all like: ‘Oh badhaai ho, bachha ho gaya!’ (Laughs)

A certain kind of positioning is very important for the kind of film that Kennedy is. Having the premiere at Cannes will just set the tone right for the film going forward.

It’s not easy. They have to see thousands of films and they have to select only a few. When you are competing at that level where there are film-makers from all around the world pitching their films, getting selected is a really big deal. People ask me: ‘What’s the big deal?!’ And I am like: ‘Come on, hazaaron film mein se hamari film unki samajh mein aa gayi... that’s a huge deal!’ That kind of validation is something else. They don’t see only a film... they see the performances, they see the writing, they judge every aspect of film-making. And to have made it, there’s no bigger validation than that.

Over the years, Cannes has become a destination for many for various reasons. It must be a high that you are going with a film, which is the most validating reason to make it to the festival....

Yes. And our film will be screened in the Midnight Screenings section, which is very prestigious and a proper red carpet event. Kennedy will be shown at the Grand Auditorium Louis Lumière, which is the biggest theatre there. Jahan pe (Martin) Scorsese aur Quentin Tarantino ki picture dikhayi jaa rahi hain, wahan pe hum jaa rahein hain... aur kya chahiye life mein? (Smiles) At least, I can tell my kids: ‘Been there, done that’.

I don’t want to comment on who goes to Cannes for what purpose, but going with a film that one has made validates it to another level. It gives another kind of a high. There is so much satisfaction that you have made it to such a platform.

The teaser of Kennedy is level next, with you playing an unfeeling, emotionless killing machine. What’s the feedback been like so far?

The response has really taken me by surprise... it’s been trending all over. On the basis of that teaser alone, it’s ranked number three in the list of most-awaited films of 2023.

It’s a very Anurag Kashyap kind of film. It really has his stamp. The response has been very organic and that makes one feel good but also puts a lot of pressure on the film because it now has to live up to the audience’s expectations.

You have, of course, played some pretty dark characters on screen. Would you count Kennedy as the darkest yet?

I think this is the darkest, this is dark on another level! It took a lot to play this character and then to take it out from my system took me a long time. I had not only changed my physicality, but my whole physiology had also changed. I had to change my voice and I think in some ways, meri aatma bhi change ho gayi thi.

It’s been a very difficult character to play. There is so much violence inside him. He’s very calm outside. He’s so disturbed, but he’s very quiet. So much has happened with this character that he is living, but he is dead in many ways.

You didn’t sleep for many nights and started consuming copious amounts of alcohol to play the character in Ugly. What went into becoming Kennedy?

Compared to Kennedy, Ugly is like a nursery book! (Laughs) After a point, all my friends were like: ‘Arre yaar, iss Kennedy ko apne andar se nikaal de!’ I had to deal with this character every single day for nine months... short of killing people, I think I have done everything! (Laughs)

This has disturbed me so much, I carried the burden of Kennedy for so long. I couldn’t even meet my friends. They couldn’t handle me. My family had no chance but to put up with me (laughs).

Much later, after I had finished playing Kennedy, I was talking to Sudhir Mishra (film-maker) and he told me: ‘Kennedy tere andar abhi bhi hain. Isko nikaal!’ Now I think, I feel, he is out of my system.

A lot of it, of course, must have been in the script. But what did you have to tap into, in terms of your life experiences and observations, to play this man?

I just had to follow the lead and not swim against the current and go with the flow. Kennedy took care of me... it’s a very well-written character, so well-formed. When I first read the script, I started crying. I was confused as to why I was crying. I started thinking about whether I was being empathetic towards the character because the climax is very emotional.

Then I realised that I was crying out of happiness because one of the best directors in India had thought that I could pull off a character as complex as this. This kind of validation from a filmmaker like Anurag Kashyap made me feel that I had achieved something in life. I haven’t won many awards as an actor, but for me, this was a big, big award.

What works for the great equation that you and Anurag Kashyap have that brings out the best in both of you?

Konstantin Stanislavski’s book An Actor Prepares says that there are three things needed to play a character — psychology, sociology and physiology. With Anurag and me, I feel that there is a fourth thing, which is theology. We have a divine connection. We trust each other so much. Woh mujhe sirf ishaara bhi karta hain toh main samajh jaata hoon. As an actor, I completely surrender to Anurag. I just flow like water on the set of his films with the trust that he will guide me to the ocean.

If we go back to your debut at Cannes a decade ago, what are your fondest memories of walking the red carpet for Ugly?

All of us were floating! (Laughs) We couldn’t believe that we had made it that far. Now I am mature enough to play it cool even knowing that the red carpet I will be walking on will be the same that will also have Michael Douglas and Martin Scorsese on it (smiles).

Has the nature of the offers that come your way changed in the last few years?

Oh, yes! There was no time in my life when I was not getting offers. I was always being offered a film or a show or something or the other. I always had a choice, and I chose to work less. And that, I believe, was stupidity on my part.

Now I want to do a lot of work with all kinds of directors. I want to work in all kinds of genres. I think I am ready now. I am also getting interesting offers from very good directors. I just need a good director. I don’t care about the script... give me any script and I will do it. For me, the director is the main criterion. If he is a good director, he will anyway have a great script. I won’t stop myself anymore, I will do a lot of work... I will no longer be stupid.