“I was terrified”: How ‘Border Diaries’ Became Kula Kuldip’s Biggest Learning Curve

When popular Assamese actor Kula Kuldip landed in Karnataka to shoot Border Diaries, excitement took a back seat. What accompanied him instead was fear.

“I was extremely scared,” the Collage actor recalled during an exclusive conversation with The Story Mug.

“The biggest responsibility was whether I could become the character they wanted. Every actor wonders whether the preparation is enough and whether the performance will work. I was also worried about fitting into a completely new environment,” he added.

The apprehension, however, lasted only until he reached his hotel. Waiting there were the film’s producer and director, who welcomed him warmly.

“They greeted me like an old friend. That warmth immediately made me feel I belonged there,” he said.

For Kuldip, whose Kannada debut Border Diaries is slated for release on July 25, 2026, the film turned out to be much more than another acting assignment.

It became an education in professionalism, preparation and the craft of filmmaking.

Ironically, the opportunity arrived without an audition.

Recalling his selection procedure, the actor said that the filmmakers were searching for an actor to play a young man from a refugee camp, someone with a distinctly northeastern appearance.

During their search, a friend of the director came across a music video featuring Kuldip. That led them to his social media profiles, where they also found photographs from one of his stage productions, Life Canvas.

The director suddenly recognised him. Years earlier, he had watched the play in Bengaluru and remembered the performance.

“I never approached them for the role,” Kuldip said, adding, “In a way, the role found me.”

Even then, he initially assumed someone was playing a prank.

“When they first called saying they were contacting me for a South Indian film, I honestly didn’t believe it,” he said.

The process that followed surprised him even more. Instead of rushing into a contract, the filmmakers spent nearly two months introducing him to the story, discussing the character and preparing him for the role. Every stage involved another conversation, another discussion, another round of preparation.

“It felt less like casting and more like a workshop. That was the first lesson in professionalism,” he recalled.

Preparation extended far beyond understanding the script.

The biggest hurdle was Kannada.

The production arranged a language coach, a linguistics expert, who spent three days helping him understand pronunciation and dialogue delivery.

Kuldip devised his own routine as well. He wrote every line first in his native dialect, then in standard Assamese, translated it into Hindi and finally into Kannada. Once he could pronounce the dialogues correctly, he recorded his own voice and spent hours listening to the recordings until the language began to sound natural.

“There were moments when I wondered whether my tongue would ever cooperate,” he says with a laugh.

Quitting, however, never crossed his mind.

“Instead, it became a challenge. I kept asking myself—why can’t I do it? They had trusted me after watching my work. It was now my responsibility to justify that trust,” he said when asked if he ever felt like running home midway.

Looking back, Kuldip believes the biggest takeaway from Border Diaries had little to do with language.

It was professionalism.

According to him, professionalism in cinema does not end with signing a contract, receiving the script and turning up for the shoot.

“As actors, we are part of the producer’s investment. Someone has trusted us with their money and their project. Our responsibility is to give them the best possible performance. I realised that preparation is also part of professionalism,” he shared.

He feels this attitude deserves greater importance in regional cinema.

Money, surprisingly, wasn’t the highlight of the experience.

Although he consulted friends from Mumbai, Delhi and the National School of Drama before quoting his remuneration, Kuldip says the experience ultimately proved far more valuable than the pay cheque.

“I learned much more than I earned,” he said.

When asked to rate his own performance in Border Diaries, he awards himself eight out of ten. Not because he believes the role was perfect, but because the journey pushed him to become a better actor.

“The biggest compliment came from the director. After the shoot, he told me that some of the things I had added to the character actually helped him. For an actor, that’s probably the biggest reward,” he said.

For all the lessons Border Diaries has given him, the advice he would offer his younger self remains remarkably simple.

“Don’t do something just because someone asks you to. Understand why you’re doing it. Do it because you believe in it.”

That belief has taken him from the stage in Assam to the Kannada film industry. Whether Border Diaries opens more doors will only become clear after its release, but for Kula Kuldip, the journey itself has already become one of the most rewarding performances of his career.

The actor’s next Assamese film, XYZ directed by Himanshu Prasad das (Himu) will hit the theatres across Assam on July 24, 2026.

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