I did get a reputation for being choosy and not very easy to be approached, and none of that is true. It is not that I am not approachable, it is just that I am trying to find myself and establish who I am as an artist.
I was always looking for relatability, because I am not someone cut out for larger than life roles.
I don't think I am fearless. I am just me.
Half your battle is won when the writing is good, and then you as an artist bring your personality into it.
With my social media posts on fairness creams, I felt really strongly that I needed to speak up about it because I think we can take baby steps. Colour and caste is engrained in our culture, but I don't think it should be applauded or packaged and sold.
I don't think that confrontation always leads to a solution.
I always try to do middle-of-the-road cinema.
I always pick characters where it's not his muscles or dance skills that help him, because not all of us can look like that. I am more like someone who'd beat up ten guys, not with his muscles, but his strategy.
I grew up in this industry. I've seen fame up close.
If I look at Dad's earlier work - 'Bandini,' 'Satyakam,' 'Chupke Chupke,' 'Jeevan Mrityu' - and then his later work, I realize that when something works, the industry doesn't want you to do anything else. They just typecast and milk you.
If I want to do song and dance, I will and I would like to but I don't want to do it in every film. Where is the novelty then? It just takes the fun out of work for me.
We are always larger than life because we come from this mentality that since we are a very poor nation, we need an escapist cinema to take us out of our miseries. And that's where Bollywood comes from.
I dislike labels like 'commercial' and 'non commercial.'
It harms me when people say I am 'non-mainstream' or 'non-commercial' actor. I try to fight off such labels.
It is not a happy time when a film doesn't do well... Everything affects you, success affects you and failure also affects you.
If we are not affected by our environment, then we have somewhere become insensitive. It might be good in a way because you might not be affected by anything and be calm always.
The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary.
I realized that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too, but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work.
'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well.
I really want to do a film with my uncle and my cousins. I'm sure it will be really interesting to work with them.
