Sidharth Malhotra opens up about aashiqui, reel and real; actor plans to learn how to sing and play the guitar for the musical.
On March 16, speaking to Mirror, Mahesh Bhatt who’d directed the original ‘Aashiqui’ and who, along with filmmaker brother, Mukesh Bhatt and Bhushan Kumar, will be producing the third part in the franchise, informed that his daughter Alia and Sidharth Malhotra have been approached to play the lead. En route Bangkok for an ad shoot, the actor confirmed the news. “Scripting is in progress but it should be up and running next year.” “Aashiqui 2′ had lots of love, angst and music. I’m looking forward to more,” Sidharth exulted.
He said that to convincingly pass off as a singer, he would be taking singing lessons. “Mohit Suri wants me to sing one song,” he revealed, adding that learning to play the guitar was a prerequisite. “This kind of prep is a given today. I have to get rhythm in my voice and fingers.”
Is Alia going to help with the prep since she’s already a playback singer? “I hope so and if I can match up to her talent, maybe we could sing a duet, that would be a first for an actor and actress who’ve debuted together,” he laughed.
There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the duo who, when promoting their last film, couldn’t stop smiling. “Smiling is good for health and makes for great pictures.’Kapoor & Sons’ was responsible for the smiles,” he quipped, admitting that he’s extremely close to Alia. “We’ve known each other since we were non-actors and have been working together a lot. I enjoy the time we spend with each other.”
He took on Kamaal Rashid Khan on Twitter recently when the actor-filmmaker made a disparaging comment about Alia’s clothes. Would he have been as quick to jump to the defence of another damsel? “For sure, but in this case I stumbled on KRK’s tweet by chance. I had just posted something and his response came up within 10 seconds and was on my timeline. It was an impulsive retort. I believe that anyone with such a large following should be more responsible and politely told him the comment was uncalled for. I think he got my point. Talking about this anymore would give it more publicity than it deserves,” he dismissed.
We move to Deepika Padukone and Jacqueline Fernandez, with whom he wants to share screen space. “Deepika reciprocated my request on Twitter and the search is on for a good script,” he said, adding that Jacky and he will start the actioner, ‘Bang Bang 2,’ next month. “Earlier, in ‘Brothers’ she was paired with Akshay (Kumar) but brought a certain vibe and energy to the sets. She was always cracking jokes and we’d talk about fitness,” he reminisced.
For now there is Nitya Mehra’s ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ with Katrina Kaif coming up in September in which he plays a time traveller, a role spanning from 30-60. If he could go back in time Sid admitted he’d tell his 21-year-old jittery self, who’d just come to the Maximum City to be a movie star, to take it easy. “Because I’d know destiny would lead me to here,” he joked.
For an outsider, he’s quickly made a place for himself in the close knit film fraternity, watching ball with Arjun Kapoor and walking the ramp for designer Kunal Rawal. But his working class background continues to propel him into taking risks with his roles because “I’ve grown up believing that unless you do something exceptional and stand out from the crowd, you won’t get promoted”.
The latest risk was ‘Kapoor & Sons’ which touched on several taboos, from porn to hash, from infidelity to homosexuality, and surprised by striking a chord with a wide audience with its dialogues, emotions and subtle acts. So if he could flash-forward into the future what would Sidharth wish for? “A great line-up of films to be remembered by. And with so many marriages breaking up, a family that will stays together through thick and thin. Blame it on my upbringing,” he signed off.
COURTESY TIMES OF INDIA