Aiyaary: To do just a love story becomes sightly frivolous, says Sidharth Malhotra

Critics have lauded Sidharth’s performance in Ittefaq and his next release Aiyaary looks promising as well. The Neeraj Pandey directed film is about a mentor and protégé, played by Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth, respectively.

Having started his career with romantic films, Sidharth Malhotra is now looking forward to do characters that have depth and help him grow as an actor.

Sidharth Malhotra shoots a song for Aiyaary in Mumbai.

The 33-year-old actor says at this point in his career, he wants to take risks. “Deep-rooted characters like in ‘Ittefaq’ or ‘Aiyaary’, had lot of depth, which I personally like. and I think you just grow (as actor). I think to do just a love story becomes sightly frivolous. If you do not have crutches of a love story, then the character has multiple layers and can take you on a different journey in a film,” said Sidharth.

In his five-year-long career in Bollywood, Sidharth has played varied characters and the actor says there is always an attempt to do something “non-typical”. “Being versatile in India is a trend, where no one actor is known for a particular kind of a role or film and in my own small way, I am trying to mould myself into playing a soft and tough part. I am definitely challenging myself and going against the grain. I am trying to do something non typical. I yearn for something that is unique, something that no one has done before and opens up a different horizon,” he adds.

Critics have lauded his performance in Ittefaq and his next release Aiyaary looks promising as well. The Neeraj Pandey directed film is about a mentor and protégé, played by Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth, respectively.

For the first time, the Student of the Year actor is seen as an Army officer onscreen and he says it is a role close to his heart as his grandfather was into Army. “Unfortunately, I did not get much time to be with my grandfather. But my father has lived that life and he is looking forward to see me in this avatar in the film,” he said.

The film is headlined by a host of talented actors like Bajpayee, Naseeruddin Shah, Adil Hussain, but Sidharth had scenes only with Bajpayee. “While working with him (Bajpayee) so closely, I observed him and learnt a lot. After the shot, he was kind enough to talk to me about acting workshops, diction, etc. It is something I will use it in my next film.”

Aiyaary is again scheduled to release on the same day as Padman on February 9. “...We are back to square one, we were anyway coming together (referring to initial release date of January 26). I think that film is chasing us wherever we are going. We are happy and confident about our film, I think it will speak for itself,” the Kapoor and Sons actor says.