Exclusive! Goodbye actor Pavail Gulati: Vikas Bahl and Amitabh Bachchan are why I said yes to the film

Goodbye marked Pavail Gulati’s latest silver screen outing after Dobaaraa. The Vikas Bahl directorial saw Pavail share the screen with Amitabh Bachchan, Neena Gupta and Rashmika Mandanna. The comedy drama film explores how a family is affected by the death of a loved one, and how a whole family’s life is upended by the same.

The film saw Pavail essay the role of Karan, the eldest son in the dysfunctional family, who grapples with the unexpected death in their own flawed ways.

In a candid chat with OTTplay Pavail reveals the reasons why he came on board for the film, his experience working with Vikas Bahl and the rest of the cast and crew, his future projects and more.

Excerpts from the interview…

What made you say yes to Goodbye?

I'll give you 2 reasons. One reason is Vikas Bahl and the other reason is Mr Bachchan. To put it lightly, but other than that, the script was beautiful. Vikas had written it and I'm a big, big fan of Vikas. I love Chillar party and I love Queen. I always wanted to work with him. So when the script came around and the part came around, I absolutely loved the part. And I absolutely loved the script and it's very different from the kind of stuff that I've done. So it was like an instant yes when I read the script.

The story of the film deals with the grief of losing a loved one and it is explored with elements of humour as well. So was it hard to navigate such different genres in one particular film and to emulate that in a particular character?

I actually thought that it's going to be very, very hard when I read the script.. You know, to deal with the situation in a funny way and all of that and get emotions also. I thought it's going to be very, very difficult. But Vikas is like a master of comedy. He's an inherently funny person. I was nervous because I've never done comedy before. And then I have to do comedy with Mr Bachchan and Sunil Grover, who are like legends in their comic timing.

But Vikas’ way of direction is beautiful, and gave me a lot of confidence. And I remember a scene I had to do with Sunil Sir. I was very, very nervous because you know, Sunil Grover here, he can just kill you with his humor. But he really liked it and he was coming up to me and telling me that I'm doing so well and the scene works so well. So that kept me, my confidence growing in the scene, kind of working better and better. So I think the cast and crew was a big, big part of all the scenes working together, because no one was really doing this film for themselves. It was a topic that we had chosen and the kind of film it was and the kind of ensemble it was, it was not a film where everyone was focussing on their performance being regarded as the best or their character standing out. I think everybody was looking at how the film will shape up and how this scene will work. So I think when you look at it from that point of view, that very objective point of view, the scene works and everything else works. I think it just makes everything so much better.

Rashmika Mandanna, Amitabh Bachchan and Neena Gupta play your family members. So how was the dynamic between the three of you off screen?

Oh, very, very family like. So Vikas has this very, very sweet quality that he kind of keeps his set and crew and cast very, very together. So we used to have lunch together. We used to have dinner together. And you know, we were shooting this film during the pandemic and you know somebody or the other were losing family members or friends or something like that. So everybody was in a very vulnerable state and then we had to do these things.

On set you spend so much time on set that you end up talking to your colleagues and you kind of, you speak your heart out. I think that made us very, very close. That made us almost like a family outside also. And we gained a lot of new, a lot of new friendships were formed and a lot of love was promoted on this film. So I think this film gave us so much more than just a film. So the dynamic was actually very, very nice.

We were watching movies together with Mr Bachchan. We were listening to music. We were eating together. Same in Neena ji and Rashmika. So it's a beautiful feeling when you. It was a very nice situation.

The film deals with very sensitive subjects like grief. There's a particular scene in the film that seems to have struck a lot of people involving your character. Your character is a very career oriented person and there's a scene where he actually has airpods in while he is carrying his mother's mortal remains at her funeral. What was going through your mind when you read about that particular scene that you had to do?

I honestly had the same reaction that the audience had. I wanted to slap myself.

How can you be so insensitive? But yeah, that was the guy. But he has a redemption in the end, which is beautifully written.

The character goes through his own journey and comes to a realisation of what he has missed in his whole life. And how that loss will never be fulfilled with anything else in the world. And that particular feeling is so universal, because all of us are busy with our own things. We have our own things to take care of. We have our own pressures in life. We have our own things in life. So how do you deal with something at that point of time? And it takes you time to realise that in the middle of this rat race, what have you actually missed out on? And that person who was always your world, your shoulder, your backbone, and suddenly that person is not there. And you think that moment you don't realise, you think everything else is more important. You realise how big a part that person was for you to become the person that you are now.

So I think I was looking at it from that point of view, and I had to empathise with that character to figure out what this character will do by the end of it.

So, it was a really hard character to do.

Yeah, hard in the sense to empathise with this character was hard because as an actor you have to emphasise correctly. You have to understand this character. Why is this character doing such a thing and you have to give a reason for it, right? And if because if I don't believe in this, then the character would look fake. So just to empathise with the character was really hard.

Were there any other scenes which you found difficult to do because of the sensitive nature of them or because you had a hard time empathising with the character?

The realisation in the end when he realises that he lost someone, and that they're never going to come back. That scene broke me down and I think broke a lot of people down too. It just pierces you inside, something ruptures and you can't stop thinking about it.

It's like therapy because you're not crying in so long and finally you start crying and you can't stop. It was an outlet for all the emotions and sadness that I had saved inside.

You have also worked behind the camera as well. You have been a casting director on My name is Khan in the initial days of your career. Can we see you in any other aspects of filmmaking in the future as well? Maybe as a director or a producer?

I don't know. Let's see maybe years and years down the line. I have a passion for filmmaking. I come from a film school, so I really like the idea, the whole thing of filmmaking, I love the whole process of it. Being a director is a very, very tough job. You have to really concentrate on so many things. I mean, I love acting, and that's the only thing I love right now and maybe in the future once I get a little more grounded and get a little more patience. Because a director needs to have a lot of patience. I don't think I have that in me. So I think after I get a bit more patient and a bit more disciplined, then maybe I can think about it.

Bollywood is going through kind of a rough patch these days when it comes to box office numbers. While some people call it a phase, there are other people who kind of feel that the situation calls for a change in the way you know things are currently being done in the industry. So I would like to know your take on this as well.

I think my take is irrelevant because I think it's the big producers have to figure this out right now. Or if you don't have the answers, I don't know who else will have the answers, to be honest. But yes, we need to make better, better content, better cinema. I mean that that change needs to come and that change is coming. I think it's got a lot more democratic in the sense that people only watch stuff that they want to do right now, big marketing and all of that is not really working in that sense.

It's a mixed bag of everything. There is also a phase, because I remember when VHS had come into existence, that time also cinema sales had gone down. television had come, cinema sales had got down. So now the OT has come, so only cinemas have gone. So also, you know, all these things kind of come and displace the whole balance. So right now it will take a little time for it to balance it out, but I'm sure it will balance it out.

Which are the other projects in the pipeline at the moment for you?

I'm doing a web series called Faadu, which is directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari. That's gonna come out, I think soon. We finished shooting it. I think it's in post production right now. So that one is a lovely, lovely script. And it's a very big show also because it's a big director, Ashwini Tivari. So it's me and Saiyami Kher. So it's a beautifully written script and beautifully directed. Santosh Narayan has given music for it, who is a living legend. Then I have another couple of films. They haven't been announced yet, so I really can't talk about them right now, but those two films are also in the pipeline. One I've already shot for and the other one I'm starting right now.

Is there a particular genre of projects you are interested in doing more of, or which you do want to do in future?

Now that I’ve done Goodbye, it was the first time I did comedy like I said. So I really liked doing it. It was really, really good fun and I thought I could do a better job because I was really nervous in the start. But now I think I can do it better. So I think I would like to explore that genre a little more. But I don't have a particular kind of project I’m interested in. It’s more like, when I like a script, I like a script, irrespective of the genre it is. But yeah, I would like to explore comedy. I’m really interested in doing that.