Within striking distance of success

After a smashing debut in Bollywood with his sensitive portrayal of Karan in Rang De Basanti, Siddharth chose to focus only on Telugu projects. The good-looking actor is now back with a bang, and is extremely excited about his second Bollywood project — Striker, which is all set to release on February 5. The young actor spoke to Metrolife about Striker and his love for Bangalore.

“Striker is all about the love of two people and I picked it as my follow up to Rang De Basanti,” he says. “I have got the most spectacular responses for the film from various people,” he adds happily. Siddharth is extremely confident about Striker. “In fact, in my ten film career, I have never been this confident about any of my films.”

The movie is set in the early 1980s and revolves around the life of a young carrom player Surya. “I did two to three months of research on my character, and had to speak Hindi in a Marathi dialect as the film is set in Mumbai.”

From being an MBA graduate, to assisting Mani Ratnam in the Tamil superhit Kannathil Muthamittal to acting in successful films in various languages, how does he describe his journey? “I have been travelling in a cinematic journey without a boarding pass,” he quips.  

But what took him so long to return to Bollywood? “After Rang De Basanti, I concentrated on Telugu films. I prioritised Telugu over other languages as I wanted to be a big star in the Telugu film industry.”

Siddharth loves Bangalore and has many friends here. “I haven’t had a single film not do well in Bangalore,” he says gratefully. “Even before I started acting, I used to come to the City often. I used to be a regular at Pecos,” he smiles.

Siddharth is also known for his impeccable dialogue delivery in all the languages he has worked in — Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. “I can speak four languages and having studied in different cities has helped me.” So where is he currently based — Chennai, Hyderabad or Mumbai? “I have homes in different cities,” he laughs. “I have mostly been living out of a suitcase.”

Currently, he is shooting in Vizag for a Telugu film titled Yodha opposite Shruti Hassan. “It’s a fairy tale, which falls in the genre of fantasy,” he says.

So is he single or are the rumours of him dating Shruti Hassan true? “Rumours are rumours but let me clarify that I am still single,” the actor signs off.