After being absent for a decade, Rahul Bhat made an overwhelming comeback with Ugly. Filmfare applauds his beautiful turnaround
We live in an instant age. Like 2-minute noodles and 30-minute pizzas, most of our gratification in life comes quick. Patience is seemingly a redundant word. But Rahul Bhat knows what it takes to be patient. He was once a television heartthrob in the hit Muslim soap Heena (1998) opposite Simone Singh. The actor gained popularity for his good looks and acting chops. He even made the transition from the small to the big screen with Yeh Mohabbat Hai (2002) and Nayee Padosan (2003).
Sadly, the films were washouts. After such debacles, he disappeared from the acting scene. Cut to 2014, Rahul stuns everyone with his performance in Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly.
The much-delayed film was much appreciated by the audience and the critics. He was praised for a brilliant performance in a complex and dark film. This newfound attention has given him new hope for a career comeback.
With the release of Ugly, Rahul witnessed something he hadn’t in more than a decade. The media put the spotlight on him and they even harked back to his fame in the ’90s. Rahul had his reasons for staying away from the arc lights. “I quit acting because I was angry. I did not want to do B and C grade projects. I wanted to work on good scripts and with committed filmmakers. But nothing came my way and that made me unhappy. It’s not like there weren’t great filmmakers then. But there wasn’t much scope for experimental films then.” So Rahul waited patiently for trends to change.
