Kunal Kemmu on Child Stardom, Go Goa Gone & Becoming a Director | Cyrus Says

Cyrus Says

Cyrus Brocha and Kunal Kemmu revisit their long-standing friendship through a series of nostalgic and humorous anecdotes. The conversation t

Key takeaways

• Kunal Kemmu recalls that his early film 'Kalyug' was originally titled 'Blue Film,' causing significant anxiety during promotional shoots.
• A childhood advertisement for Surf Ultra resulted in a traumatic eye injury when spicy curry was splashed into his eye.

Main topics

• Childhood stardom
• Mahesh Bhatt and early films

Notable quotes

Kalyug was called Blue film at that time.

Conclusion

A nostalgic deep-dive into the professional and personal growth of one

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) IVM Speaker 4 (0:03) Life may be anything, the first thing is very important. First memory, first love, first heartbreak, first work. Friends, I am Gopal Dutt and this is my first podcast. First with Gopal Dutt, which will be released on IVM Pop. I will talk to those who are busy with their work, whose name we all know. So come to the YouTube IVM Pop channel or wherever you listen to podcasts. Listen to our podcast. Meet interesting people. Speaker 7 (0:42) Let's do the show like that now. Speaker 6 (0:44) Kunal Kunal! I'm here. Cyrus, I'm tolerating you. Okay. Love you. Speaker 7 (0:49) But we'll get on with the show. I was trying to start with that humble beginning. And then, I'm talking about... Now, the dumbble beginning. So, Speaker 6 (0:56) at the age of seven and a half or eight, I was on a film set. And I remember it was in... The first day was in ISKCON, the auditorium. And it was, if you've seen Hameer Aipark, it was the part where he tells us that I'm taking you to a musical concert and he takes us to a Bharat Natyam. We cut to that. Bharat Natyam thing. Of course, you have to Speaker 7 (1:11) pay for everything. My pop's not paying for all this. Kalyug was never written for me. They were Speaker 6 (1:14) figuring out what film... I should do Because Kalyug was called Blue film at that time And it was for Bhatt Saab's son Blue film Because it deals with I like the title Speaker 7 (1:22) Don't get me wrong Luckily you weren't available To be casted in it Speaker 6 (1:25) So everybody was like Scared of it And the thing is When Bhatt Saab told me About the film He never told me the title And he said He narrated the story to me And I said It's brilliant I want to do it I said okay very good Still no title And I've been signed On this film And they're like We'll do a photo shoot I said okay And there I heard them discuss it So you want Speaker 7 (1:42) to write this Speaker 6 (1:42) blue film down? Speaker 6 (1:45) Oh, one second. You can't even ask. They were making those mock-ups and there was blue film and me standing with a gun. I was like, oh my God. How do I bring this up at home? So finish the story, bro. I lost the plot. Wait, wait. Speaker 7 (1:56) Boob salute. Speaker 7 (2:01) The language used on the podcast may not be fit for consumption. We warn you, tread carefully. But listen, don't be so conservative. Speaker 7 (2:15) Kunal, shall we introduce you or F it? I don't know. You decide. It's your show. It's your show. You're the guest. Okay, I'll introduce you. You're sitting with Speaker 6 (2:22) Vairus Brocha, also known as Cyrus Brocha. Thanks. Who's looked the same for many centuries. Has claws going out. Wait, Speaker 7 (2:29) wait. Speaker 6 (2:29) Boob salute. Now carry on. Speaker 7 (2:32) Now I want to leave. Okay, we have Kunal Khemu here. We go back a long way. One of the finest actors of our times. And... A guy who I first spotted Actually I first spotted him In an ad For Poo Sayani Oh my god What was that ad? It was Surf Ultra Surf Ultra Find the stain Correct And I was working on the ad He used to hang Speaker 6 (2:50) out I used to always wonder Who was But Speaker 7 (2:52) it didn't look like that Who? Surf Speaker 6 (2:54) Ultra ad Who wants to Imagine Cyrus Who hangs out Energy right now Now Imagine Speaker 7 (3:00) a 20 year old Cyrus Yeah So he was this young He was quite the famous model You got done I've already done a few ads Quite well known and all that And so we were doing this Bowl baby bowl Rock and roll It's coming back to me And that's why I met Kunal Kembu for the first time Speaker 3 (3:22) It feels like everyone's talking about two things right now, pickleball and podcasts. So what happens when someone who's lived her whole life on the court decides to bring those two girls together? I'm Sanya Mirza, and I'm bringing you a brand new podcast, Serving It Up with Sanya. I've had some incredible conversations with friends, fellow athletes, artists, and entrepreneurs. Each episode starts with a game of pickleball and once the rallies are done, the real talk begins. Serving It Up with Sanya, watch and listen on YouTube and wherever you get your favourite podcasts. Speaker 2 (4:01) Are you looking for finance products and services that can enhance your personal finance experience? Are you looking for a space to talk about your financial product or service? And are you looking for a crisp talk show where the conversation is all about money? Well, your search ends here. Hi, my name is Anupam Gupta and I'm host of the Pesa Pesa podcast. And I invite you for the conversation about your personal finance on each Monday on the IVM podcast app or the website or on any... podcast streaming platforms. See you folks. Speaker 7 (4:37) So he's been a child star, child model. You know, it was a traumatic ad for me because Speaker 6 (4:41) the whole concept of that ad was like I'm preparing for a school function when I'm supposed to do this bowl baby bowl. Yeah, we had Speaker 7 (4:48) that whole. And I'm Speaker 6 (4:49) wearing that jacket, that white jacket that I'm supposed to be and like. the girl who played my sister is kind of playing the drums on the curries that are being kept there. And so she's supposed to hit this spoon and this curry is supposed to come and fall into my jacket. That becomes the premise. I'm like, I have a show to go to now and the mother kind of washes with surf ultra and kind of goes away. So when they were trying to get that blotch on me, so they were hitting that thing. So they'd actually put that really masala wala tikha curry there and they were not just getting it right. So they said, this one guy sat with this big spoon and he said, I'm Speaker 7 (5:15) going Speaker 6 (5:15) to Speaker 7 (5:15) plop it. And he plopped it into my eye. Speaker 6 (5:17) And it was excruciating pain. And I didn't know what to do. And then they kind of went to find some eye drops and it was pretty traumatic. And from that blurry vision, I saw a figure dancing at the door. And I was like, oh, am I dead? Who's this? And then I realized I was Cyrus Brocha. Speaker 7 (5:34) What a horrible story. I thought it was really a story of pain. But the pain was not the eye. The pain was what he saw. This is going to be my vision. I have to live with this. Speaker 7 (5:45) Yeah. But anyway, I was trying to start with that humble beginning. And then I'm talking about... Now the dumbble beginning. No, Speaker 6 (5:52) no, Speaker 7 (5:52) I'm talking from my point of view because otherwise you just set up the guess. We have all the bibliography. I'm sure you know it yourself. If you forget, we have it here. But the second time I met him, I was working with MTV and doing Bakra. So many years have passed. I won't even think how many years have passed. Many years have passed. He's an adult. No, he's a college kid and I'm a few years older. Speaker 5 (6:10) Yeah. A few years, of course. Of course. Speaker 7 (6:15) Unnecessary. Chacha ko aisa. Chacha. Dhoda sa, halka sa, little bit. Show respect. Show respect. Sitnam, one of these South Bombay colleges. Cyrus uncle? Yes. The function was, the famous function was going on. Yeah, Bruhaha. Bruhaha, one of the big events in South Bombay. I think it was the acting thing. Speaker 6 (6:32) Yeah, it's a, again, I don't know why Cyrus' entry in my life is around dramas. We Speaker 7 (6:36) did a setup with a, I think it was this English guy who was around or whatever, I can't remember more details. But basically, we did this whole thing about, As he doesn't remember. Speaker 4 (6:44) Yeah. Speaker 7 (6:44) No, no, I mean, They basically advertised this thing saying that. Speaker 6 (6:48) So the Speaker 7 (6:48) college helped us with all this. Yeah, Speaker 6 (6:50) because we used to have this intercollegiate dramatic festivals and all of that. And I used to be a part of my drama team. And the best talent would come for it. Like from Speaker 7 (6:56) across the colleges. Hence he was there. So you got five, six out of those guys, two or three of them will make it in Bollywood sooner or later. So Speaker 6 (7:02) they advertised it as like, you know, there's this team that's come down from London School of Drama. RADA! Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Speaker 7 (7:10) Only I can Hindi-fy the English and always... get the Hindi wrong in any case. Both ways. That's fantastic. And so they said that Speaker 6 (7:17) you're supposed to kind of come and there'll be auditions. Yeah. And five people will be selected Speaker 7 (7:22) and they'll get to go to RADA and Speaker 6 (7:23) do a course there and learn Speaker 7 (7:25) acting. So obviously everybody was like gunning for it. Interested, yeah. And the Speaker 6 (7:28) moment they realized I'm on the team and I'm a known person, they were gunning for me. So I made it to the cut of the people who'll be auditioning. To be honest, we Speaker 7 (7:34) were told that he's Speaker 6 (7:35) going Speaker 7 (7:35) to be there. Yeah. Because she was known and all that. But what they didn't know Speaker 6 (7:38) is that we won the competition that we were a part of and this was happening. Speaker 6 (7:55) Yeah. And they were like asking us to do really stupid things. I remember, I don't know, me or my friend. The Speaker 7 (8:00) British guy. Do you remember? I don't want Speaker 6 (8:02) to Speaker 7 (8:02) call it racism. When the English guy is saying something for us Indians thinking the credibility is high. The Speaker 6 (8:08) meanest thing was they made this boy and I was sitting there and I was like, I hope I don't have to do this. They made him say that, oh, you have to pretend like you're pregnant and you're delivering a baby. And they played Vengaboys. So that guy is actually like, and this serious theater actor was like, I have to show pain. But they're like, now enjoy the music. I was like, this is some weird shit going on, man. And then they kept us there till like 6 a.m. We were there till 6 p.m. And then on stage, they were like, we're going to announce and everything. And all of us got there. And I was one of the five. Screen Speaker 7 (8:37) pay, screen pay. Screen pay and stage pay. And the worst Speaker 6 (8:40) part was that everybody started laughing because we were on stage. So, you know, the speakers are like this. So, they've said that you won and we all got very happy. And they have declared that this is Bhakra. And we don't know. We're still going. Thank you. Thank you. And people were like, ha ha. And then we got down and we said, so when do we go? And they're like, no, no, no. It's actually Bakra. That's when we were like, where is that rod that I saw somewhere? Where is that stump? Actually, I felt Speaker 7 (9:04) very bad afterwards. This is the thing about a Bakra thing is either you believe it or you don't believe. Once you believe it, they threw themselves in it. They knew that this is a stupid idea. You know, pregnant woman and all this nonsense. But they just threw themselves in it. So they're done as... I mean, at the end of the day, they had paid their bills. And yet, you know, whatever. Shit happens. Third meeting is years later, 2008. in 8-ish, I think. Okay. Where I get to meet him as a star. As a star. So, this is a movie called 99 with these new guys called Raj and DK who we interview subsequently. DK's Hindi is worse than mine so you can imagine. I would correct him. I'd be like, you know, when you're bullied you have to find someone to bully. So, like that. And then, that's where I met him. And then Kunal was in another... There's another story? Oh, there? Where I got 99? 99 must have a lot of stories. Wait, wait, wait. I've forgotten something. No, no. There is this story Speaker 6 (9:47) which kind of became a part of the promotions also. So, he was wearing a fat suit. that okay and uh being, you know, how Cyrus can be so lazy. So there were two pieces of that fat suit. One was the lower half and one was the top Speaker 5 (9:57) half. After Speaker 6 (9:58) a few times, he just decided I don't need to wear the lower half. It was a really thick one. And he was just hiding it from people and I was unaware. So we were shooting in Horsgars in Delhi and we were just like fooling around and like pushing each other around. Speaker 5 (10:10) And Speaker 6 (10:10) I said, Cyrus, okay, just stand. I'm going to do something. And I didn't know he's not wearing the lower half. And I kicked him really hard between the legs and he went down. Speaker 7 (10:17) What happened? He's like, ah! Speaker 6 (10:19) Why Speaker 4 (10:20) did Speaker 2 (10:20) you hit me? I said, where Speaker 6 (10:21) is the fat suit? Exactly. I'm not wearing it. Speaker 7 (10:24) What was worse, he felt bad and said, shall I rub it? And then I pretended to feel really bad. Okay. But I had those flashbacks of those. Oh Speaker 6 (10:33) my God, I didn't know. Actually, I knew he's not wearing the fat suit. Speaker 7 (10:38) My worst story about this is because I can't remember what I said is that we would hang out a lot. I was always in his trailer and all. We were quite inseparable on the set. What happens when you bitch about everyone? What will you Speaker 4 (10:47) do? Speaker 7 (10:47) You are in nature. Okay, Raj. Even Soha must have said things. Suddenly one day I find out that they are dating. I said, what did I say? Did he ever say anything back? The brooch Speaker 6 (10:56) is Speaker 7 (10:56) going on like a motor mount. I don't know what I said about her. And this tooth has gone. Maybe I would have said anything but I can't remember. He has not mentioned it and you just kept on blabbering. Yeah, yeah. So what he now thinks about me, I don't know. We were just doing this. boy bonding, we would just abuse everyone. Set guy, tailor, chhootya on the road. It was Speaker 6 (11:10) actually at a trial, Baman was also part of it, who very reluctantly would join us because Cyrus would not leave anybody. He was just like a motor mouth Speaker 7 (11:17) like Speaker 6 (11:17) you said. But we used to bond on a lot of PS3. Baman was the PS3 Speaker 7 (11:20) king, yeah. And these two are very competitive. So what would happen is once they got into that, forget the movie. Rajin Diki could do circles around house costs. There was no shooting today. Fighting and screaming would happen. But the best part is he loves food. He was a star. So I had Speaker 5 (11:33) to Speaker 7 (11:33) just hint to him and then food would come. Because I was a little uncomfortable calling people for food and all that. Kunalo just shout, hey, setting. Chinese. You know, so another thing that happened, it was the first time I Speaker 6 (11:45) tried Japanese food. We were staying in Taj and Baman and I had a day off. Cyrus wasn't there. Speaker 5 (11:50) And Speaker 6 (11:50) he said, do you want to have Japanese food? And for me, I always thought it's raw fish and all that. It's the hotel. Yeah. And he said, no, no. So Bama is like, he taught me how to have like single malt. Like actually, he'll get into the details of you put one drop of water, let the spices flow, take a sip and then now it dries to your palate. See, this is what Speaker 7 (12:05) making a film is all about. You should think script revolt, bro. That's two days. After that, it's all this. Speaker 6 (12:10) So I knew if anybody, like, so he said, I have to take you and you should know how to, like Japanese food, you have Speaker 7 (12:14) to Speaker 6 (12:14) experience. I said, okay, let's go. And that's when I got introduced to sake and cold. And sake, unlike other alcohols, doesn't like really taste that bitter. It has a really smooth Speaker 7 (12:23) flow to it. Speaker 6 (12:24) So I was... downing it sitting Speaker 7 (12:25) down Speaker 6 (12:25) it looks Speaker 7 (12:26) little it's very less exactly it's a sip yeah i Speaker 6 (12:30) actually thought maybe it's like a custom to like go tuck I think it is. It is. But you don't have 10. Speaker 7 (12:35) So then, Speaker 6 (12:36) 10? I Speaker 7 (12:37) went on. So he was also like, Baba, you might want to slow down. I don't Speaker 6 (12:40) worry about it. I'm really enjoying it. And it only hit me when we finished our meal. Luckily, we were staying in that hotel. Otherwise, I wouldn't have reached home. So I got up and I went down. And Baba was like, are you okay? I was like, I don't Speaker 7 (12:52) think Speaker 6 (12:52) so. And then, luckily, we weren't shooting that day. And I just remember going to my room, passing out and waking up the next morning and going to Speaker 7 (12:57) shoot. That was my first experience of Japanese food. Then, two more last memories that I want to get into his entire life. We don't have time. One is that we used to work out in the evening. Okay. And I got to hand it to him because I don't know anyone else who will do that because we were getting up at 5.30. He would, of course, be taking his whole acting seriously while I'm waiting for the evening. Yeah. And so after, I'm in the hot sun Speaker 5 (13:16) of Speaker 7 (13:16) Delhi and all that. Yeah. Speaker 5 (13:17) Full, Speaker 7 (13:17) full, full. And Kunal's quite the alpha on set. He's very sweet. You know, you see him on set, he's like a traffic cop. Speaker 2 (13:23) Okay. He bosses around Speaker 7 (13:24) people? No, especially if he gives a suggestion and they don't take it. The second suggestion is not a suggestion. It's a demand. And the third is, Kim Jong-un order. So Raj and DK can go and make Nimbu Paani. Speaker 5 (13:38) You know Speaker 7 (13:38) DK's Speaker 5 (13:39) Nimbu Paani, sorry. He Speaker 7 (13:40) couldn't explain Nimbu Paani. So he would act it out to the spot. Ahem. Speaker 5 (13:46) Wouldn't it look Speaker 4 (13:47) like a mime? Speaker 7 (13:49) Hilarious. Yeah. So then we would work out at 7.30 after a long 12-hour shift and sweating and all that. We would come back, take some NO2 or whatever we could get our hands on and we'd pump hard. Yeah. Don't judge by our bodies, man. We had a good time. It was a good time. And the other thing is, he loves bikes. Okay. Speaker 5 (14:04) He's crazy. Yeah, Speaker 7 (14:05) of Speaker 5 (14:05) course. I think if he had a chance, he'd rather be a, you know, a bike star than anything else. How often do you go on like these bike rides that you do with like Ishan and like Shahid and all that stuff? So those Speaker 6 (14:13) are yearly. Like once in a Speaker 5 (14:14) year, we try to do that. But Speaker 6 (14:15) otherwise, every Sunday would be a ride. And like in the winters, it's better because you ride out to Lunavala in the morning and on the way back, you're just like burning. So it gets limited and depending on like how work is, but I really find it exhilarating to be on a bike because it's also meditative, honestly. Of course. And especially like I took it to Ladakh also and it was one of the most wonderful things that I did. Speaker 7 (14:34) And I feel that more than, you know, people are like, oh, you ride for eight hours, you must Speaker 6 (14:37) be exhausted by the end of it. You're actually pretty fresh Speaker 7 (14:40) and happy and like ready to go. And if our careers Speaker 6 (14:42) don't Speaker 7 (14:42) go anywhere, we can go Speaker 6 (14:43) and become Uber Eats drivers. What is that? They deliver food. That's you. Speaker 7 (14:47) What the hell? You think people in Ladakh don't want food? Of course. You have to find the right area. Imagine a guy looking like that. Hello, your food. Speaker 7 (14:58) I'll never find the place. Can I get back to my story? Yeah, Speaker 5 (15:01) of course. Speaker 7 (15:01) Kunal Khemu, can I talk about my story? So my story is, he's the bike thing and I hadn't ridden a bike since college and I was a little unsure. And I think it was a Yamaha. No, it wasn't. I used to ride a Yamaha, which I could ride. But the gears are different than the Hero Honda. Bullet or something. It was not a Yamaha. I can't remember. So then I was effing around with it at Pragati Maidan, of course, was where we were shooting. Speaker 6 (15:19) And Speaker 7 (15:19) then he tells me, but I don't think he was being mischievous. He told me to go. Take it for a round. Just, you know, get your confidence. Because they were still setting up the shot. It was a long, like, Shots of riding the bike basically. All day. So I said, that's a good idea. So he encouraged me. So after doing one, two chakras, you know like a doggy getting the ball. I came Speaker 5 (15:35) back, Speaker 7 (15:35) I came back. Then he's telling me, go, go. So the confidence increased a little bit. Next thing I know, I don't