Ronit Roy: Anurag Kashyap has no ego on the sets; he only thinks about the film

Happy and excited that his long-pending film Ugly will hit the screens before 2014 ends, actor Ronit Roy says that while shooting the movie, he felt like a little boy who was being guided by director Anurag Kashyap

Ronit, who was last seen as Arjun Kapoor’s autocratic dad in 2 States, says he has a complex and tough role in Ugly, which is a mystery and thriller movie. But he enjoyed the experience of working with Kashyap.

“I’ve worked in an Anurag Kashyap production Udaan before. But I had not been directed by Anurag before. So I was very excited. He adopted a unique method of working. He didn’t give any of the actors a script. I was a bit puzzled. When I’d call to ask Anurag about the script, he wouldn’t listen. ‘Just come on the set on Monday and we’ll see,’ he said. I kept asking Vikramaditya Motwane (the Udaan director) what was this unique method of working,” recounted the actor.

On the appointed day of shooting, Anurag gave Ronit the scene for the day. The actor refused to read the scene. ”I told Anurag that now that there was no script, I’ll leave the shooting entirely on him. Throughout the shooting, I was a little boy that Anurag guided through the film,” he quipped.

A methodical actor by every reckoning, Ronit says this unique way of working worked for him.”Throughout the shooting, all of us in the cast kept discovering new reserves of energy and self-expression. It was a totally unique experience.”

Ronit feels the audience is ready for the raw and real. ”Ugly has a stunning story to tell. Anurag has no ego on the sets. He only thinks about the film,” he said.

The film was delayed for nearly two years as Kashyap got embroiled in a squabble with the censor board over the anti-smoking statutory warning. Ronit stands by his director. ”It was an ideological fight, and Anurag’s fight continues. But for the sake of the film which has been suffering, while Anurag fought his battle with the censor board, he decided to let the statutory warning remain. Luckily, the film has not suffered because of a delay in release. That’s because the plot of Ugly is not time-bound. It is as timeless as Udaan.”