Mohar Basu mohar. basu@ mid- day. com For someone functioning on bare minimum sleep, Kartik Aaryan is surprisingly high on energy when we sit down at 10 am for a long chat in the rustic- looking terrace room of Imtiaz Aliu2019s suburban office.
u201c Itu2019s yet to sink in that I am the leading man of an Imtiaz Ali film,u201d gushes Aaryan, who remembers watching Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukoneu2019s Love Aaj Kal ( 2009) as a wideeyed college boy in Mumbai.
Over a decade later, the actor finds himself reinventing the love story with Saifu2019s daughter, Sara Ali Khan. The film could well be a sign that he has broken into the big league, but Aaryan is more ecstatic in the knowledge that he has earned an Ali film. u201c[ After working with Ali], my thought process is completely different. I had never done such detailed research for any other film.
Imtiaz sir and I sat down and delved into the back- stories of my characters [ Veer and Raghu]. I went for body language classes; he taught me method acting for the first time in my career. Before this film, my expertise was comic timing. But Imtiaz sir has helped me go beyond it and widen my range.u201d As much as he is amused that his dialogue u2018 Aana toh poori tarah aana, ya toh mat aanau2019 spawned a string of memes, the actor says the line resonated with him. u201c Veer and Zoe [ Sarau2019s character] are talking about things that millennials discuss in their relationships.
Jai [ Saifu2019s character in the 2009 version] and Veer are far removed from each other. The latter is idealistic and passionate; the former was hosting break- up party to feign that he doesnu2019t care. Imtiazu2019s characters are irreverent and candid, and they have opened me up as an artiste. I am so much more unfiltered now.u201d The industry may have taken a while to recognise his talent, but Aaryan u2014 with big- ticket films Dostana and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 in his kitty u2014 prides himself on making it on his own without a godfather.
u201c With the kind of films that I am a part of, I feel like finally belong in this industry.u201d u2018 Imtiaz sir helped me go beyond comic timingu2019 Aware that he has broken into the big league with Love Aaj Kal, Kartik says working with Imtiaz Ali has been a crash course in u2018 method actingu2019! u2018 With the kind of films that I am a part of, I feel like I finally belong in this industryu2019 Kartik Aaryan with Sara Ali Khan and Imtiaz Ali pic/ instagram
