Kite Runner actor Bhavin Bhatt: ‘We delve into the mind of a sociopath’

A new touring production of The Kite Runner, a play based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, has an actor in its ranks who not only previously played the role in the West End, but also won Best Newcomer at the Asian Media Awards in 2017 for it.

That actor is Bhavin Bhatt, a graduate of De Montfort University, where he studied drama. And he is also a trained dancer.

Bhavin plays the villainous Assef in the play, which is set in Afghanistan and includes a number of events in the country’s recent history, but says there is much more to his character’s personality than just being the ‘bad guy’.

“Assef is a really interesting character,” explains the actor, speaking to the Cambridge Independent the morning after an “amazing opening night” in Salford. The tour comes to Cambridge this evening (Tuesday, 14 May).

“I believe he’s the catalyst for what happens in the story, so the way I see it is you have Hassan who represents everything which is pure and everything that’s good, and then on the flip side to that you have Assef, which is pure evil.

“He starts off what we see of him as a child bully, someone who I feel, speaking to audience members, everyone has a memory of this type of person in the playground, just a really rough ‘n’ tough bully.

“And as he gets older the layers of his evil nature kind of come alive. In the book Assef idolises Hitler and his goal is to rid Afghanistan of all Hazaras [a large ethnic group], which is a horrific, genocidal thought process he goes through.

“In the play we see a beautiful character arc of him, starting off as a child, just someone who’s rough ‘n’ tough and committing some really horrific acts, which I don’t want to give away…

“But he’s a tough character to play but also, like I said, he’s the catalyst for what happens to Amir and Hassan.”

Bhavin, whose television credits include Murder in Suburbia and Spooks, continues: “As an actor it’s really interesting to get a role like this because when you read this script, or even the book, he just comes across as ‘the evil character’, but there’s so much more to his story.

“There’s so much depth and detail, and the small ticks and nuances of all of that excite me as an actor to play such a role – because it’s delving deep into the mind of a sociopath.

“So through my rehearsal process, and talking to our director Giles Croft and the playwright Matthew Spangler, it was really interesting to try and eke out every little bit of detail from the book and put that into the play.

“So there’s certainly… the words that I say are quite horrific but I feel like we found a beautiful way of portraying other things which are unspoken.

“And I feel like that‘s why the audiences react a certain way with my character when he does certain things on stage.”

Having performed the role for a number of years, I suggest Bhavin must know it back to front.

“Yeah,” he laughs, “so I was part of the West End cast playing Assef, and it’s amazing to see how basically the story is still the story of Amir and Hassan and what my character does during the kite tournament.

“But it’s interesting to see more tweaks here and there to the script, and what everyone else kind of brings to their characters this time round – it’s so refreshing.

“So the story stays the same but the small tweaks here and there I feel push it into 2024.”

On his Best Newcomer accolade at the Asian Media Awards, Bhavin calls winning it a “beautiful moment” and says he feels “completely blessed”. “I still have to pinch myself,” he shares, “like did that really happen to me?!”

He hails The Kite Runner as “storytelling at its best” and adds: “It’s a story that I always feel will be timeless, and in that way it’s kind of like a Shakespearean classic.

“Telling this story several years ago in the West End felt very relevant then, and now, even when we were talking in the rehearsal process, telling this story now with the links of especially my character and the things that happen, it feels more relevant than ever that this story needs to be told and heard.”

The Kite Runner has enjoyed one season on Broadway and two in the West End, garnering international acclaim along the way.

It was also made into a film in 2007, helmed by Quantum of Solace director, Marc Forster.

The play started its run at the Cambridge Arts Theatre yesterday (Tuesday, 14 May) and is on until Saturday (18 May). Tickets, priced £25-£45, are available from cambridgeartstheatre.com.