'I've landed my first Hollywood flick'

Model-turned-actor Karan Sagoo is both nervous and excited about his acting debut in Prateek Chakravorty’s film ‘From Sydney with Love’. He talks to Metrolife about his personal film collection, the importance of acting classes and why he cried during
Hindi lessons. 

“As an actor, you always feel like you should do a hero’s role. But when I took Prateek’s film, I knew it was a character-based project. I told myself that each of the three male characters is integral to the plot. I got to show different shades of the character,” notes Karan, who plays the bad guy in the film.

He speaks passionately about his love for both Bollywood and Hollywood films and proudly says that he owns a collection of over 800 DVDs. “I’ve grown up watching a lot of characters and I could have easily taken inspiration from one of them for my role. But I’m also quite crazy when it comes to acting. I decided to go with my own interpretation and I had great fun with that,” admits the 30-year-old.

When it comes to acting, he is extremely professional in his approach. “Initially, I was doing theatre in London until I moved to Mumbai, where I got trained for the Bollywood side of things. In the UK, I’d go to individual trainers who used to coach actors like Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley,” informs Karan, though not claiming to be in their league. “As an actor, you have to continue going to classes no matter how far ahead in your career you get,” he adds.

In fact, the Punjabi actor made a great effort to learn the nuances of Hindi when he first arrived in Mumbai because he was born and brought up speaking Punjabi. “Back in 2009, I was stuck inside my house for six weeks with a Hindi teacher who helped me with enunciation, sentence formation and dialogue delivery. I was just immersed in perfecting it — I’d have a session with him, watch Hindi films and do tons of homework and research. I even cried once because I was supposed to say a dialogue but it just wasn’t happening!” confesses the modest actor.

What few people know about him is that he has a degree in IT — because his parents wanted him to get a ‘real job’. But luckily for him, he fought to make his dream come true. “I couldn’t do anything but acting. I realised that this is what I want to work years for. I’ve even landed my first Hollywood flick with Project 8 Films,” announces Karan, while refusing to divulge any details.

When asked about his thoughts on this City, he smiles and says, “The one thing I love here is the weather. It’s the best weather I’ve experienced in all of India! Even the people are very warm and friendly.”