Actor Sushant Singh, who was last seen as Thambe in Ram Gopal Varma's Aag, says he doesn't mind playing the role of a homosexual.
"I've always had more gay fans than a female following," said Sushant.
"That's what acting is all about. You suppress and finally eradicate your own personality and preferences to surrender to the audience. And I've always connected with homosexual audiences. In fact, when I was a totally unknown face in Delhi doing theatre, my first admirer turned out to be gay.
"At first I was flattered by the attention he lavished on me. Then I began to understand his intentions. I told him, 'Dude, I like you and I love your attentions. But I just don't swing that way.' I eventually had to disappear on him to escape his amorous advances," he said.
The character re-surfaced in a queer way recently when Sushant used the man's personality to play the ruthless bisexual gangster in Mani Shankar's espionage thriller Mukhbiir.
Sushant said: "To make the character bisexual was entirely my idea. Why are we so afraid of homosexuality? It's a way of life, and we need to look at it that way. I suggested to our director Mani that we make my character sexually ambiguous, so there's an interesting sexual triangle in the film. My girl keeps hitting on Sammir Dattani's character while I also keep hitting on him."
{{/usCountry}}Sushant said: "To make the character bisexual was entirely my idea. Why are we so afraid of homosexuality? It's a way of life, and we need to look at it that way. I suggested to our director Mani that we make my character sexually ambiguous, so there's an interesting sexual triangle in the film. My girl keeps hitting on Sammir Dattani's character while I also keep hitting on him."
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"I've no qualms about being a gay or heterosexual fantasy," he said.
Sushant is also getting ready to play a ruthless newshound in Mahesh Bhatt's Showbiz, which will be directed by Saroj Khan's son Raju Khan. Sushant has a couple of high-profile senior journalists in mind as role models.
"But finally, it would be my interpretation of the way the paparazzi conducts itself," he said.