'Tough roles give me a high'

Sonu Sood’s performance as Chhedi Singh in Dabangg is certain to be remembered for a long time to come.

And the man too looks like he’s here to stay. He is set to make a big comeback with a couple of films and now sports a well-toned body and is fitter than what he has ever looked before.

Sonu has a reason for the way he looks.“I play an encounter specialist in ‘Maximum’. You have to change your body language, look, sound and speak in a totally different way. And all this is due to an uncompromising vegetarian diet and disciplined workouts,” Sonu tells Metrolife.

Sonu relishes his bad man character every bit. He confesses that doing tough roles gives him a high. “I have always enjoyed slipping into a cop’s role. Scripts that portray real life subjects are interesting to work on,” he adds.

Sonu is also pretty excited about his home production ‘Lucky Unlucky’ with Mallika Sherawat. “It’s a comedy. I will also be acting in it. The film is comedy-action-adventure type. I play ‘Unlucky’ and Mallika plays ‘Lucky’. The story is about two people and how their lives change after they meet. It’s been great working on this project,” feels Sonu. 

During the just concluded Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), Sonu played for the Mumbai Heroes and although the team didn’t do well, Sonu dubs his experience as ‘rewarding’.

“It’s not always that one gets a chance to spend time with actors from other film industries. And the pressure of facing a huge crowd is quite unlike what we face during shoots or in a performance. It’s nice when actors switch from the reel to the real mode. That’s what we did during the CCL,” says Sonu.

Sonu debuted in Kannada films with Vishnuvardhana and he was appreciated for his role as a don. Ask him what got him to sign the movie and he says, “I played a don in the film and the whole story of how a don loses his cellphone and gets conned by an ordinary man was interesting.

The whole story of the don gunning for the man with comedy strapped to it was the best part of the film.” But what took him so long to sign a Kannada film? “I was waiting for the right script to come along,” he observes.  

Sonu will soon start work on Rana with Rajnikanth. “I am not allowed to talk about the film but I am sure my experience of working with Rajnisir will be one to cherish,” he wraps up.