Purab Kohli: It’s only when I did Airlift that people saw I could do different roles

Actor Purab Kohli, who started his career as a TV show host, thinks he has been stereotyped in the film industry from the word go. Purab, who has been a part of films such as My Brother Nikhil (2005), Rock On (2008) and others, says that filmmakers only want to cast him as an “urban” character.

“I had been typecast right when I had started. Given my history of being a television show host, and then films like Rock On! or My Brother... people naturally thought that I am an urban sort of guy, and that type of role suits me the best,” he says.

However, the actor wants to break the stereotype and says he wants to be known for his versatility. “ It’s only when I did a film like an Airlift (2016) that people saw that I could do different roles. There were people who were surprised when I did the mini series POW (P.O.W. - Bandi Yuddh Ke). They were like ‘Was that really you, Purab’? That’s the kind of response I want to generate within the audience as well,” he adds.

The 38-year-old actor clarifies, he is not “averse to the idea” of playing similar characters in different films but their personalities have to be different. “I can be a journalist from New Delhi who covers crime, and then I can be a page 3 reporter in the next film. If the personalities are different from each other, then why not,” he says.