Dulquer Salmaan says he was ‘petrified’ of camera

• Before deciding to become an actor, Dulquer Salmaan worked at a construction company in Dubai.
• The actor revealed that he was “petrified” of the camera and the stage as a child and that he frequently doubted his acting abilities.
• Additionally, he was worried about being compared to his father, the well-known Malayalam actor and director Mammootty.

Before deciding to become an actor, Dulquer Salmaan worked at a construction company in Dubai. This year, he celebrated ten years in the entertainment business. The actor revealed that he was “petrified” of the camera and the stage as a child and that he frequently doubted his acting abilities. Additionally, he was worried about being compared to his father, the well-known Malayalam actor and director Mammootty.

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Before realizing he did not appreciate an office job and that acting was what he intended to do, Dulquer spent two and a half years working at the construction company. Following a three-month training program at Mumbai’s Barry John Acting Studio, he made his acting debut in the 2012 Malayalam action drama Second Show. He later went on to perform in films in the Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi languages.

In a recent conversation with, Dulquer revealed the reason he had been working in Dubai in a construction company despite coming from a film family and having an interest in acting. He said, “I thought I would not make it. Nobody will want to watch me. I thought I couldn’t act, I used to be petrified of the stage and the camera. Not for anything, but this constant sort of self-doubt and fear of comparison to my father. So I thought I would steer completely off.”

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The actor added, “Then I realised I am not happy doing this. I am not an office, 9 to 5 kind of person, it doesn’t give me any joy. It feels like work. And when I started making short films with friends who were trying to get into the movies, and who had no film background, I was like ‘man you guys have the guts. Why am I being so scared?’ So one day I quit everything, I flew to Bombay, I went to Barry John. Then it just snowballed from there.”

Dulquer remembers seeing Bollywood casting directors while he was attending Barry John in Mumbai. He had to return to Kochi due to a serious eye infection, and he gave up on the ambition of working in Bollywood. With the 2018 movie Karwaan, in which Mithila Palkar and the late actor Irrfan Khan also starred, the actor later made his Hindi film debut.