Actor Ankur Rathee is currently winning hearts as the rich brat Raj Jindal in Shehzada. The film stars Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon in the lead roles and Ankur's character stands out for his antics. The Free Press Journal caught up with him for an exclusive chat.
When asked about the process of playing a character like this, he shares, “It was a great experience for me since I have done more of a serious drama in the past, be it a law trainee in Four More Shots Please! or be it a tortured son in Undekhi. My character Raj in Shehzada is totally different. It is such a Bollywood masala mad entertainer.”
Opening up about his experience of working with director Rohit Dhawan, he says, “When I auditioned for the role with Rohit, he asked me to perform the monologue of Raj. He really liked the audition but he felt Shehzada won’t be the right film for me. He asked me to understand the animation version of the genre, and I went the full Jim Carrey way. In life, at times we take ourselves too seriously. Shehzada was one film where I just had fun. Rohit is such a great director, he held me through the whole process and also allowed me to put out my creative ideas for the character.”
Ankur has done prominent shows on OTT and Shehzada is his big ticket to the silver screen. When asked was it challenging for him to break that barrier, he reveals, “I did noted films like The Tashkent Files and Thappad in the past but when I got a call for Shehzada, it was different. It’s been a long journey to get a film like this. Before Rohit cast me for this film, he saw my work and I asked him, how come he thought of me in a goofy role this like.”
Kartik has some important scenes with Ankur in the film. Speaking about working with Kartik, he gushes, “Kartik is really cool since he has all the magnetism of a star but he is humble and grounded. When we were shooting in Haryana, I saw a huge crowd just to see him and Kriti. We had a lot of fun shooting for the film. I had worked with several celebrities but rarely you find his kind of a nature. I remember, we danced like maniacs at the wrap up party.”
On a parting note, he explains that he will get back to doing darker roles. “All this while, I had only done dark roles, even Four More Shots Please! is in a way a dark show. Considering I am married now, that won’t change the fact that I and Kirti (Kulhari) had steaming on-screen chemistry. I want to do something more romantic now and I am ready for that,” he concludes.
