Excerpts from an interview with Patcy N:
When did you decide to take up movies?
I did not think about it until I worked with [director] Vidhu Vinod Chopra. After that, I realised I was fascinated by acting.
Vinod gave me a book on acting. I read it, and felt that was what I wanted to do.
What have you been up to all these years?
Before acting, I was studying. I was quite a sportsman, playing a lot of basketball and soccer. I love adventure sports like trekking, paragliding, hang gliding, river rafting...
I stopped all that when I fell in love with a girl in Mumbai. Mumbai can take you in various directions, and I went about experiencing life. Now I've decided to focus on acting.
Sunjay Zaveri is a debutant director. Don't you think it is a risk in terms of your debut?
Even the greatest of directors have given flops. First-time directors have also given hits. Right now, there is a funda that sex films will work, so everyone is making sex films. Very soon, someone will make another kind of film that will be a hit, and the whole lot will go for it. You need to carve your own path.
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I would have liked to start with big producers and directors. But the ideal thing doesn't always happen. Everybody doesn't get the ideal chance, the ideal break. And one cannot keep waiting. So I have to utilise whatever comes my way.
This film will at least sharpen my skills and put me in the market for people to look at me and decide if they like me or not. I will actually know where I stand.
Fun... is a multi-starrer. Won't you get lost in the cast?
It doesn't matter whether you get lost among the cast or not. If it was only a Siddharth Koirala film, I would have had to carry the weight of the whole film. I wonder whether it is correct for any newcomer to carry the whole weight on their shoulders. There are very few people who have succeeded in doing that.
Tell us something about Fun.
Fun is about husband-swapping. There are three couples. The wives get bored with their husbands and decide among themselves to swap. The film then has a whole erotic moment, which leads to a murder. And the film is basically a suspense, a whodunit.
What is your role in the film?
My character is called Aryan. He's a guy who loves his wife and trusts her, but falls for another girl. He is basically an innocent guy, stuck in certain circumstances and just trying to evade certain things happening to him, and to make things right.
Doesn't 'husband-swapping' seem too bold a theme?
We always talk about morals. We preach but everybody, believe me, everybody is actually doing it while saying that you shouldn't. They just don't want to accept reality.
I don't know whether the public will accept it or not. That's not for me to say. Forget about my film, what about lesbianism? Do you think there aren't any lesbians in India? The media just keeps saying that some things are wrong. Our society has too many hypocrites. I have seen these things happen, but people don't want to believe the truth. That's their choice.
How were your co-stars to work with?
They were very good. They are nice, very cooperative, hard working people. Especially Aryan (Vaid) and Payal (Rohatgi) are very hard working. All of them can really act.
What kind of films do you like?
I love action, romantic comedies and science fiction movies. I don't like badly made films -- bad direction, bad writing and corny acting. There are too many bad films, which I don't even want to mention, and I don't like slow, boring films.
I love to watch Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. You can just watch them because of their charisma and the way they play certain characters. You can watch them and fall in love with them! Shah Rukh's romantic comedies are very nice.
I was asked to watch Ajnabee, because that also deals with husband-swapping. I liked it as I like watching Akshay Kumar.
What type of roles would you like to do?
There is not a single role which I don't want to do. Whether I'm labelled as a chocolate hero or an action hero doesn't make a difference. Not being a hero also doesn't make a difference. I just want my character to be strong, and I would like to work in good films.
Which are your forthcoming films?
My other film Raja Dil ka Ghulam is still not complete. I have signed a couple of films, but I am not allowed to speak about them right now.
Where do you see yourself 15 years from now?Right here! Even if the film doesn't click, I will be here! I will be directing later. I have already written five scripts. Some of them are very serious and depressing; they'll make people think. But I don't want cinema to make people think. I want people to be entertained by cinema.
Do you think sex films should continue to be made?
Should be made or not be made is not for me to say. I am starring in one.
The question is, why shouldn't they be made? There are a lot of films with exposure like Ram Teri Ganga Maili, but people haven't said anything about them. It depends on how you portray certain things, and what people feel when they watch the film.
Any memorable incidents on the sets of Fun?
Not really, but there were a whole lot of sexy girls! Let me tell you if you were a guy you would definitely love to be on my shoes! All the guys were having a great time as there were hot babes all over!
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