We're just actors, man, just part of things. We're just doing our jobs, like everyone else does their jobs. The adulation for us is much more because we are always in the public eye. But I never became an actor because I wanted people to scream out my name.
We are seeing how people we have looked up to and were inspired by in our work have suddenly just gone because there are such serious allegations against them. I really don't know why it is not happening here.
'Stree' is a horror comedy in which a bridal ghost who is back in town to take revenge from men, she is the one giving a lot of pain to the men. We have reversed the role, which is such an amazing feeling.
Whatever I am today is mostly because of my training at FTII. It taught me to be disciplined as an actor. People accuse us of being lazy and presume that we smoke up and laze about in the campus, which is not true at all. FTII courses are hard work.
I don't know how my body would react if I don't eat for 10 days. In order to go through that experience, I almost did not eat or drink water for 15-20 days. I only had one carrot a day, a cup of black coffee, and a few sips of water.
It's a one-day story of a guy called Newton Kumar, and the backdrop is election: how the most powerful tool we have as citizens is vote but how we don't utilise it. We really don't give importance to it. It talks about democracy; it's a satire, a black comedy.
I was born and brought up in Gurgaon to a middle class family. My father, now retired, worked with the revenue department, and my mother is a housewife. I have two siblings who are both married and have kids. But I was always interested in doing something apart from studies.
I have picked 'mainstream' films only because there is a story, and there are lovely people attached to it. That's a conscious decision always for me. What's the point if there is no story to tell?
I never signed 'NH 10' officially. I was supposed to do it. Then it got delayed. Then I moved on to other films like 'Kai Po Che' and 'Shahid.'
After my schooling, I started theatre. By the time I graduated, I was doing theatre 24x7. Luckily, the FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) acting course started.
After finishing my study in Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), I was mentally prepared for the struggle in the film industry.
I don't take pressure. I can't really work under pressure. I do one film at a time, and I try to live in that character and in the moment. I am not a futuristic person who thinks what is going to happen after five years. And I don't live in the past.
No, nothing much has changed in me as an actor. Since the day I started out, I always wanted to be part of good stories. The only thing that has changed is now I have options of good stories to choose from.
What I believe is to keep working. How a film performs at the box office is not in my control: what is in my control is my work, how much honesty I can bring on-screen. I am happy people love me.
I have to finish 'Behen Hogi Terim' and then get right into that zone to seriously start preparing for it. It is a huge responsibility to play Netaji.
Though 'Shahid' was the only true story, what happened in 'Trapped' can happen to anyone. And I am sure there are people like Newton, and there are boys who are naive, sweet, and rowdy, like my part in 'Bareilly'... The humanness is something I loved.
I think media will tell me how many films I have done in 2018, same as they did in 2017. So, let's see how it goes, but I don't really keep a count. I love doing interesting work.
People took notice of me and saw that I can carry off light-hearted roles as well. They started talking about Pritam Vidrohi, and it became a lovable character; I saw that people were clapping and whistling. It was a big high to watch this kind of reaction.
The kind of films I am doing are moderately budgeted and are with A-listers.
The process of playing a character as dark as Omar Saeed Sheikh is disturbing. So you have to mentally also be in that psyche, that state of mind. So, it was not easy. I was trying to cultivate a lot of anger and hatred in me while portraying him, because that's what I read and heard about him.
