Milind Gunaji on playing antagonist: OTT has brought the focus back on villains
Actor Milind Gunaji, who will be next seen in The UP Files, says that focus back on the negative characters and due to the immense success of antagonists on OTT
Actor Milind Gunaji shot to fame with his iconic negative characters in the films Fareb (1996) and Virasat (1997), but the actor asserts that since the last two decades with protagonists playing the grey roles, things are no longer the same.
“With OTT gaining ground, thankfully, I see focus back on the negative characters and that has happened due to the immense success of antagonists on OTT. For many years, I was getting diversified roles as authentic villain was missing from the big screen, which was fine with me, but now things are slowly changing,” says the Devdas (2002) actor.
Having featured in over 300 films, the success of his film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (BB2; 2022) and the web film Hit: The First Case has worked in his favour. “Being part of successful films is a big advantage. BB2 was a blockbuster but Hit... too was widely watched on OTT and got great traction. That converted into more work for me. In my upcoming projects, the audience will see me playing strong antagonist roles as well as much more,” he says.
On his upcoming works, he adds, “My next release will be The UP Files that we shot in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with actors Manoj Joshi, Manjari Fadnis, Shahbaz Khan, Ali Asgar and other actors. Written and directed by Neeraj Sahai, I play the main villain in action-packed film which leads to a major clean-up operation."
He adds, “I will again be seen in a negative role in an untitled film with actor Amit Sadh. I have a very interesting role in director Ayaz Khan’s film, tentatively, titled Objection My Lord with actors Pearl V Puri, Zarina Wahab and Rahul Dev. Also, I am elated to share screen with my son Abhishek Gunaji’s in his directorial debut film Marathi film Ravan Calling. Besides, I have completed the web series Reet based on the sand mafia.”
Also a photographer, anchor and author, Gunaji adds, “I am not just an actor. I am an anchor and have hosted several shows on tourism in Maharashtra. Besides, I have written 20 books. So, I take liberty of choosing work, but now I am getting much stronger roles that I had been missing for the last few years