He’s in a super upbeat mood. Ever courteous and smiling, Sidharth Malhotra stands out among the top newbies of the second-half of the millennium as the only complete outsider. He is also the second among them to play a double role in his new release A Gentleman: Sundar, Susheel, Risky.
To capitalise on his peppy demeanour, however, we discuss all that a bit later and start the conversation with the film’s title, including the long suffix of three adjectives meant for his two avatars. We jokingly tell him that we thought that the first adjective sundar (beautiful) actually referred to his heroine Jacqueline Fernandez and that susheel (virtuous) and risky applied to his two characters. Quips the actor, “Actually, only susheel refers to me. Risky is about my directors, Raj & DK!”
The film has been through several title changes, right? “Only one working title — Reloaded — was dropped,” he replies. “People thought Reloaded must be a sequel to Fox Star Studios’s earlier film Bang Bang!, so to clarify things, our clapper-board at the launch clearly said, ‘Not Bang Bang 2!’ Actually, our budget is just a quarter of Bang Bang!’s production cost.”
Talking money
When asked, Sidharth instantly agrees that budgets are very important, especially in today’s times of very low hit averages. “I am very conscious of these things. The late Yash Chopraji once said that films don’t go wrong, budgets do,” he says. “In an action film, it is difficult to maintain the budgets planned, but we managed it. Raj & DK have not spent much on computer graphics but kept the action quite realistic and hand-to-hand.”
He points out, “I am pretty happy with the outcome. Also, with the satellite and music rights, we have covered almost half the cost. We will be safe even if the theatrical returns are in the vicinity of 25 to 30 crore.”
About his dual role in the film, he smiles and says, “This is not a typical dual role film, but more of a comedy about mistaken identity. In that sense, it is different from Arjun Kapoor’s Mubarakan and Varun Dhawan’s Judwaa 2 because the whole film is not based just on the dual roles. That is why the film is called A Gentleman and not ‘2 Gentlemen’ or something like that.’
Sidharth says that the two characters belong to two completely different worlds. “Gaurav is an NRI from Miami with very typical dreams, a steady 9 to 5 job, with ambitions to marry a nice girl and have a family. He lives in his own big house, has a mini-van for kids in the future, loves to cook, relaxes on Sundays, and has an obsessive-compulsive disorder for cleanliness.”
He goes on, “He is so obsessed with getting married and settling down that he proposes to girls on his first dates with them. Now, that last part was something to which I could really not relate to.”
The other character, Rishi, lives in Mumbai and is an aggressive man. “He is not happy with the work he is doing. So, I actually enjoyed playing Rishi more — he is a bit heroic, he’s stylised, and he was fun for me to essay. So, there was more action from Rishi, but more humour from Gaurav.”
This is his second actioner (after Ek Villain), so is he looking at action as his favourite genre in films to come? “Actually, I have always loved the action genre, James Bond, Jason Bourne and our older films with Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan that we barely make anymore. Now, I would love to consciously do an action film at least once every two years. Actually, I would not mind even a franchise of A Gentleman if the film clicks.”
Nevertheless, he stresses that today actors must change the past trend where one actor was slotted only into doing one thing. “That’s what keeps me excited, otherwise I would get bored if I have to look and act the same way in every film.” Sidharth declares. “Like Ittefaq has me playing a much softer character. Then I have Aiyyari with Neeraj Pandey-sir. This is my most exciting and enjoyable phase, though, of course, what counts is how the films fare on release and how well you can pull it off.”
How does he assess his ‘risky’ directors? He laughs, “That was just a joke. Actually, Raj & DK are unique people. Originally, they are engineers from USA, and they came here for the love of cinema. So, they are audience-turned-directors. They are crazy about Hindi and South Indian films and their films pretty much have all the ingredients of a commercial movie.”
However, he points out that the directors have a very individualistic take on common elements. Their sense of humour, as seen in their earlier films as well, especially Go Goa Gone, is very quirky. “I think that is their biggest plus point, their USP! A Gentleman is a no-stress action comedy. It is a two-hour rollercoaster ride, and people should take the ride,” Sidharth grins.
Co-star camaraderie
Another plus point was his heroine, Jacqueline Fernandez. “She played my bhabhi (sister-in-law) in Brothers and we just shared one frame, I think. I had interacted with her only during the promotions. But this time, we were together for over a year, and I really got to know her well.”
Raving about her plus points, he says, “She does not need an ice-breaker, keeps no stresses or hang-ups, is never in a low mood, and is a self-made and extremely positive person. We also bonded as both of us are fitness-conscious. She asked me if we could go out and enjoy on off-days, and one day, we even had a fun evening at the race course with her friends. Thanks to her, I even went back to horse riding, in which I had once taken some lessons.”
Speaking of being self-made, isn’t Sidharth also in the same category? Does having made it as the only outsider among the topmost new heroes give him a feeling of triumph? “There is definitely a sense of confidence and achievement,” he agrees with a smile. “My life has been odd. From my home in South Delhi to having a job here and being an assistant in direction, there is a feeling of satisfaction. The fear of failure has gone as I have come up from zero. Even if I stop going further up, this gratitude will remain within me.”
So, what have his past films and work taught him? “My debut film Student Of The Year showed how much stardom can be achieved on a Karan Johar platform,” he says, ticking off his films one by one.
“My next and small-budget film Hasee Toh Phasee was in the pure performance zone. Ek Villain was all about action and an intense persona. In Brothers, I had to try and match up to superstar Akshay Kumar-sir’s persona. I learnt a lot from him and till date, we have a great relationship. In Kapoor & Sons, I had a soft role but was surrounded by so much talent. In Baar Baar Dekho, it was the challenge of ageing on screen, though I wish the film had done well.”