My second film is the real test for me: Sidharth Malhotra

“This is the real test for me. I am really excited to be doing a solo film, I am on my own. And I hope I will not disappoint people. More than nervous and excited, I feel more responsible now to entertain people. It is on me now,” Sidharth told PTI in an interview.

“Before it was Karan Johar taking care of everything. He was launching us so half the pressure was on him. Now, I have been launched. What next? I have to perform. That performance pressure is there. I have to make up for all the negatives I have done before,” he said.

‘Hasee Toh Phasee’ is a romantic comedy directed by ad-filmmaker Vinil Mathew and produced by Johar and Anurag Kashyap. Besides Sidharth, the film also features another rising star Parineeti Chopra.

After being directed by Johar in his very first film, Sidharth said working in a movie helmed by a newcomer was a very different experience for him as he felt more pressure.

“This film was a role reversal. I was one-film-old and my director was a debutante. It is Vinil’s first film so it was me who felt a lot of pressure being the experienced one of the two,” Sidharth said.

The actor said he and his co-star Parineeti hit it off right from day one – all thanks to their Punjabi background and shared love for food.

“We are in the similar age group, we were launched the same time, so we hit it off from the first rehearsals. We both are North Indians, Punjabis, outside the industry, foodies. And she is very easy to get along with,” he said.

In the film, which hits theatres on February 7, Parineeti will be playing a scientist, who has come back from China, while Sidharth plays the role of a not-so-successful boy trying to make a lot of money.

This year, Sidharth will also be seen in Mohit Suri’s June action thriller ‘The Villain’. “While in ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’ I play this sweet, endearing boy, ‘The Villain’ is very aggressive. Doing these two films is kind of a risk for me but I wanted to show my range as an actor. I would like to see how I am accepted. If I pull this off then I think that would prove my mettle in the industry,” the actor said.

Sidharth is aware that there is a pool of young talent in Bollywood at the moment including the likes of Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Sushant Singh Rajput, Varun Dhawan, and he knows that he has to be on top of his game with every film if he wants to survive this race.

“When ‘SOTY’ released, me and Varun felt its just two of us and we are going to take the industry by storm after all Karan Johar launched us. We thought we are the ‘it’ people but suddenly there were six options.

“All of us are over conscious about the competition. More than among us, it’s the competition with the audience as they have a lot of choice. So if I don’t perform right now, I might miss the boat,” Sidharth said.