‘I Am Not So Bad In My Real Life’

‘My
mother
puts
up
with
me
beating
everybody
up
through
the
film
but
before
the
film
comes
to
an
end,
she
stops
it.’
‘She
is
like,
“I
know
what’s
happening
next,
I
don’t
want
to
watch”.’

Kelly
Dorji,
who
starred
in
films
like

Tango
Charlie
and
Telugu
hits
like

Don
and

Ek
Ka
Dum,
says
he
is
done
with
playing
negative
parts
in
films
and
wants
to
explore
diverse
roles
on
his
comeback
after
a
self-imposed
hiatus.

The
53-year-old
former
supermodel
settled
down
in
Thimphu,
Bhutan,
a
decade
ago
to
establish
multiple
businesses,
including
a
travel
company
and
a
gastro
pub.

Dorji,
who
is
also
the
co-director
of
the
successful
literature
festival
Bhutan
Echoes
(formerly
known
as
Mountain
Echoes),
said
acting
continues
to
be
his
‘first
love’
but
he
is
not
keen
to
play
the
quintessential
bad
guy.

“My
mother
never
watches
my
films
till
the
end
because
she
knows
what’s
going
to
happen,”
he
says.

“She
puts
up
with
me
beating
everybody
up
through
the
film
but
before
the
film
comes
to
an
end,
she
stops
it.
She
is
like,
‘I
know
what’s
happening
next,
I
don’t
want
to
watch.’

“I
know
I
am
typecast,
I
can’t
help
this.
This
is
my
mould
for
the
rest
of
my
life.
I
am
this
villain,
Kelly
Dorji,
the
‘bad
guy’.
But
I
am
not
so
bad
in
my
real
life
so
I
don’t
mind
exploring
something
different
now.”

The
actor-turned-entrepreneur
said
he
feels
fortunate
that
people
in
India
still
think
of
him
and
call
him
for
new
projects
every
now
and
then
without
him
lobbying
too
hard.

“During
the
pandemic,
I
kept
saying
no
to
the
offers.
I
was
at
the
peak
of
my
career,
the
scripts,
of
course,
were
regular
mainstream
cinema.
When
the
offers
started
dwindling,
I
had
a
lot
to
think
about.
But
I
have
reached
a
point
in
my
life
where
I
want
to
return
to
my
amateur
theatre
life,
not
in
theatre
per
se,
but
in
films
or
theatre
medium.
That’s
when
I
discovered
the
possibility
of
OTT,”
Dorji
said.

He
is
excited
to
be
starring
in
Netflix’s

Delhi
Crime
season
3.
He
recently
also
featured
in
Vikrant
Massey’s
June
release,

Black
Out,
on
Jio
Cinema.

Calling
himself
a
fan
of
actor
Rajkummar
Rao,
especially
his
performances
in

Srikanth
and

Monica,
O
My
Darling,
Dorji
said
if
the
role
is
fulfilling,
he
doesn’t
mind
its
length.

It
could
be
a
‘sleazy

paanwala‘
or
‘a
tourist
standing
in
a
line
at
the
airport’.

The
super
model-turned-actor,
who
had
a
successful
modelling
career
along
with
the
likes
of
Milind
Soman,
Arjun
Rampal
and
Rahul
Dev,
said
the
Bhutanese
film
industry
produces
’25
to
30
films’
a
year.

“This
is
a
very
good
number
for
a
country
which
has
a
very
small
population
of
seven
lakh
people,
and
the
actual
film-going
population
is
a
fraction
of
that.
So
it
is
rather
healthy,
especially
if
we
can
maintain
that.

“I
think
the
numbers
(of
films
being
produced)
are
going
to
go
up
a
little
more,
especially
with
the
introduction
of
our
film
festival
at
the
Bhutan
Echoes…
I
see
future
film-makers
in
Bhutan,”
said
the
actor,
who
also
acted
in
the
Bhutanese
film

Sem
Gawai
Tasha
in
2011.