Going Places With People: Actor Purab Kohli Drove A Van Around Norway. He Tells Us More!

Be it exploring the country with just INR 150 in his pocket or mapping his path in Norway while camping in a van, VJ-turned-actor Purab Kohli is a true traveller at heart. The actor gives Travel+Leisure India & South Asia a closer look inside this wanderlusting heart. 

Excerpts from the interview with Purab Kohli:

T+L India: You’ve worked in both traditional film and digital platforms. How do you see the evolving landscape of digital entertainment impacting the industry?

Purab Kohli: There was an explosion of digital distributors during the pandemic, and they saw a great demand for entertainment since everyone was at home. However, I feel that might be plateauing, too. As a country, we’re becoming tech-savvy and connected to the Internet. As a result, subscriptions will increase. At the same time, this surge will stabilize. Now is an interesting time as you’re not seeing as many projects being commissioned as they were a couple of years ago; it has slowed down. Digital creators are finding their ground in what works and helps keep subscribers.

T+L India: What opportunities does this evolution offer to actors and creators?

Purab Kohli: It’ll be a bit of a filtering process. These days, you see a lot of content and an increase in demand for quantity. As a result, quality suffers. It’s an interesting time in business as one will have to wait it out and see. At the same time, the last couple of weeks have seen huge successes in the Hindi film industry – from Shah Rukh Khan’s blockbuster movies Jawan and Pathaan to Rocky and Rani [Kii Prem Kahaani], Dream Girl 2, and OMG 2. People are rushing back to the theatres–which is great news! Hopefully, more films will be commissioned.

Through COVID-19, I probably did one film for Zee5 [I also did Matrix, but that was for the international market]. In the last year, I’ve been a part of three films back-to-back, which is something I’ve not done in a long time. So, I guess business is back!

T+L India: Being a father and a successful actor, how do you manage to strike a balance between your professional commitments and family life?

Purab Kohli: I usually take a lot of time off after every project to ensure I spend time with the kids. I also try to give my dates out according to their holidays. Producers I’ve worked with know that about me. Sometimes, it’s not possible but my producers have always been supportive. Sometimes, my kids join me on set and spend time with me on the shoot.

I think with any profession, you have to work with the time you have. It’s important to make time for family and children. I choose to spend time with my family on the weekends; it’s easier if you make that choice.

T+L India: You worked with Keanu Reeves for Matrix. Could you tell us a little bit about your experience?

Purab Kohli: Keanu is one of the humblest stars. If you’ve seen The Matrix, you’ll know that I’m there in a couple of scenes with him and another eight to 10 actors. He was the biggest superstar sitting with us. Even though we were all from different countries, no one was as popular as him. He was sitting and jamming with us. He’s been in the business for a long, and he was chatting with complete newcomers and sharing his journey with us. It’s not often you get to see such a big star being so humble! His humility, work ethic, and dedication to his craft are inspiring.

T+L India: You’ve ventured into adventure travel through your show Life Mein Ek Baar. Could you share some memorable adventures that you undertook during the show?

Purab Kohli: The first episode was bungee jumping in Nepal, and honestly, it was the most frightening! Although skydiving – which I did in one of the later episodes – was scarier, since bungee jumping was shot first, it felt a lot more frightening. I was jumping off a very shaky bridge in Nepal in 2012, and it was the world’s second-highest bungee jumping spot at the time.

The jump was part of the show’s opening sequence, so we spent about 45 minutes on the old, shaky bridge doing the introduction before jumping. But after jumping off the bridge, it took away all my fears. The rest of it was a cakewalk.

Caving in the Northeast was also frightening. Caves can be quite unnerving, especially when you’re trying to fit into the little cracks in the wall in pitch dark. To date, I still have a tough time getting into a cave!

For Gone India, a show I did before Life Mein Ek Baar, I travelled through the country with INR 150 per head, per day. It was back in 1999 on Channel V. At the time, we would comfortably travel to the heart of India in Madhya Pradesh, and follow the Narmada River from Amarkantak to Baruch – all at the age of 19 or 20! It was amazing. Despite being low budget, there were many luxuries. For Freedom Express, another travel show on Channel V, I explored India on trains. If anyone has travelled to India on trains, they’ll know how fascinating and lovely it is. It’s a great way to see the country! During On The Run, I drove around 26,000 kilometres through India and covered every state, except Sikkim.

T+L India: How does travelling with your family, including your children, influence your travel choices and experiences?

Purab Kohli: A lot of it is based on what they want and excites us as a family. Choices start with what the kids want to do and experience. Sometimes, we leave the kids with our parents and head out for the weekend. [Any travel decision] is a combination of [wanting time for yourself, doing justice to each other, and listening to the kids’ desires].

Our trip to Norway, for instance, came about from wanting to be in a campervan. It was spectacular, and I highly recommend it! It may not be like living at a five-star hotel where all the luxuries are a given, but having to take care of everything yourself is part of the experience.

T+L India: What’s your favourite travel destination and the most memorable experience you had there?

Purab Kohli: So many! Apart from the many travel shows I’ve done, we—as a family—travel a lot, too. When my son was six months old and my daughter was three, we drove right across the South of France to Holland [now, The Netherlands. They’ve been travelling with us for a long time now, and they’ve gotten used to it.

Having said that, it’s very difficult [to pick a favourite travel destination]. I always feel like there’s so much to explore in the world. Earlier, I used to consider Goa my favourite destination – and I have lived there for eight years, too. But now I feel there’s so much to explore, and every destination is a new one.

T+L India: Tell us a little bit about your trip to Norway and what you did there.

Purab Kohli: We hired a campervan and drove. We booked our tickets just two days before booking a campervan! We quickly got the paperwork done (my family didn’t need one) and arrived in Oslo. We bought a map of Norway, and some books, and started. We read through the books and even charted our map, not sure of where we were going. We had this brilliant app, Park4Life, which tells you all the parking spots. So, we just parked our camper, stopped at places that looked pretty, and planned every day as we went along. We did this for roughly two and a half weeks! It was unreal.

This was my first experience in Scandinavia. It’s a bit expensive, but it’s worth the money. Norway is all about exploring the outdoors. You have to be okay with the cold weather. The kids and I even swam in icy cold water. I feel everyone should experience Norway – it’s breathtaking! They have many fjords also and [many companies] organise cruises there.

T+L India: What were some interesting local dishes or foods you tried during your time in Norway?

Purab Kohli: Countries in Northern Europe tend to eat a lot of meat. But since we were in a campervan, a lot of it was our food. There weren’t many restaurants where we were going either. We ate a lot of local cheese and butter in the van though.

Oslo has a great bunch of restaurants though. We ate everything – Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and more.

T+L India: For those looking to break into the world of acting, what advice or insights would you offer to help them succeed in the industry?

Purab Kohli: Hard work and honesty to your craft [is important]. But I think this is valid for any business that you do. It’s important to look at it as an ongoing [task] and not something that you hit high and get comfortable. Just keep going and remain excited about it. Some projects do well, some don’t but you just have to move on to the next. Just enjoy your work and not worry too much about [the successes].

T+L India: What are some exciting projects you’re currently working on or have in the pipeline?

Purab Kohli: I have three films. [I’ve finished a film where] I play the father of the protagonist, but I can’t give you more details on it yet. There is also Let There Be Love, a bilingual English and Konkani film. It’s mainly for the festival circuit. And there’s Ahuti, which I just finished shooting for in the UK. It’s by Avishek Ghosh, a relatively new director [who made] Ishq-e-Nadaan, a film that was released on Jio Cinema.

All photographs courtesy Purab Kohli

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