The Unconventional Hero

Abhay Deol,who is known for his off-beat roles,talks about playing a South Indian in Dibakar Banerjees Shanghai,penning scripts and signing two new projects.

Abhay Deol,who is known for his off-beat roles,talks about playing a South Indian in Dibakar Banerjees Shanghai,penning scripts and signing two new projects.

Whether its his unconventional roles or his candid remarks,Abhay Deol has a penchant for making news. The tall actor,who was last seen in Aisha in 2010 as the suave Arjun Burman,is on a roll this year. Apart from playing an interesting character in Dibakar Banerjees Shanghai and sharing screen space with Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,he has also signed two brand new projects of which one is an out-and-out commercial entertainer. But prod him a little further to reveal more details and the suave actor flashes his dimples and says,I cannot reveal more as the production houses want to make their own announcements.

Otherwise the lovable robber of Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!,who spouted Punjabi cusswords in the National Award-winning film,is now treading new ground. Apart from wearing glasses,Abhay will also be playing a Tamilian for the first time in Shanghai. My character is a South Indian based in the North and its will be interesting to explore how a Tamilian based in North India would speak. We do not want to go in for any stereotypes or make him into a caricature,but portray him as someone very real. Next month we will decide how much of an accent he should have and what his mannerisms should be. I call this more of fun than a challenge, smiles the actor.

Abhay,who is known for getting into the skin of his characters effortlessly,admits that he enjoys working with Dibakar. He says,There is always some kind of preparation for Dibakars films as he makes me play characters that are far removed from my real-life persona or the background from which I come. He knows how to keep me on my toes.

Though Shanghai is reportedly based on Vassilis Vassilikoss novel Z that revolves around the real-life assassination of a dynamic politician in Greece,

Abhay,who plays a powerful law-maker in the edgy thriller,confesses that he has not read the book. There was no need to read it because Dibakar has written a good script. He has been working on it for a while now. Shanghai is a political thriller and Dibakar has taken the novel and brought it into the Indian environment and culture. It sits well in our contemporary situation where we are entering a prosperous phase,just as the West did some time back, says the actor,who will start shooting for the film in April.

Abhay is also excited about Zoya Akhtars Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara,an adventure comedy about three guys on a

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journey,where he plays an urban character quite similar to his real-life persona. I did not have to work on my body language,or put on an accent,but I had to build a rapport with Hrithik and Farhan. We would sit together,read the script,understand each others way of working and how the humour should be portrayed, reveals the actor.

He also enjoyed learning deep-sea diving and para-gliding for the film which is currently in post-production. I felt comfortable and took to the water very quickly. Para-gliding is a little scary especially when you are sitting at the end of the door all set to take the plunge, grins the actor.

Apart from acting,Abhay has also started penning scripts. He was keen that his production house should take off with Basra,an action thriller,but the film has been stalled as of now. Due to the delay I took a step back and reviewed the situation. I decided to write and develop more scripts as I do have co-producers and investors, signs off the actor on a confident note.

geety.sehgalexpressindia.com