Sidharth: Despite being an outsider I'm glad audience accepted me

After making his debut in 2012 with Karan Johars Student Of The Year Sidharth Malhotra often referred to as the chocolate boy of Bollywood has tried to experiment with his choice of roles and scripts While romance seems to be his forte the actor 33 says he likes to add layers to his characters In a conversation with midday Malhotra talks about his choices his views on boxoffice failures why he is not ready for the web and his dream roleEdited excerpts from the interviewIt has been seven years since Student Of The Year released and you made your debut in Bollywood Youve had a few hits and misses over the years How do you see your journeyI had an amazing launch with Student Of The Year experienced the high of hits like Ek Villain 2014 and some that didnt pan out as expected but thats what we call experience None of the superstars that I grew up seeing have had perfect a record of hits They have also experienced ups and downs in their career with respect to their movie choices That is how I would describe my career as an actor as wellmdashsome films will work and some wont In every generation there have been only a handful of actors who have been accepted by the audience and I am lucky that despite being an outsider having no godfather in the industry people have accepted me as a lead actorYouve made some interesting adaptations to don the character of Abhay Singh in Jabariya JodiAbhay Singh is the stark opposite of what I am in real life I wont say that I have a business of picking up boys I may have picked up a few girls in the past laughs but I was excited to do a character that is far removed from my past and personality He is a colourful yet strong character who wears a baali earring chews paan betel and smokes chillum For roles like these you cannot come unprepared on set because that will show on camera so I put in a lot of prep work I had a tutor train me in the language for two months I am all about trying new things From the styling of the character to the body language colouring my hair and even getting used to wearing a gamcha was like adding layers to my character I got to explore a lot playing this characterAlso ReadReel life Jabariya Jodi Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra to meet reallife Jabariya JodisHypothetically if you fell in love and circumstances were not ideal would you kidnap or elope with herLaughs Hopefully I will be suitable enough to get everyones permission Most parents like me so I might charm my way into my future inlaws homes and hearts I dont think that nowadays especially in cities like Delhi and Mumbai with the lifestyle we lead parents would want to go against their childrens wishes Yet if I was born and raised in a different state city or village depending on how strongly I feel for the girl I would think and react accordingly I might fight for herDespite the highs and lows you have often experimented with your choice of rolesI have always plunged into a script from the viewpoint of the story and character whether its Ek Villain Brothers 2015 Ittefaq 2017 or Jabariya Jodi The decision was never based on whether it suits me as a hero or not I have given a bit of myself to every character I played and often challenged myself in new situations While some worked in my favour a few didnt My conscious decision has always been to do something that will encompass a much larger audience like with Jabariya Jodi The film is a massy entertainer which caters to the issue of pakadwa vivah groom kidnapping the drama and also showcases a love storyFrom playing Abhay Singh in JJ to Captain Vikram Batra in Sher Shah how do you flit from one character to the other with such easeThats what I enjoy as an actor and what drew me to the profession of filmmaking Malhotra worked as an assistant director to Karan Johar in My Name Is Khan I grew up watching Shah Rukh Khan romance in the 90s and Amitabh Bachchan Saab doing action in the 70s80s now I am living the dream by portraying similar charactersmdashbe it romancing in Jabariya Jodi or doing action Marjaavaan film with Riteish Deshmukh and Tara Sutaria Its exciting for someone like me to be able to don varied charactersWith Bollywood moving the digital way have you considered experimenting with a web seriesI havent really ventured or thought about it because theres so much I am already getting to do in films Web shows still have a long way to go in India It is a new phenomenon and our audience base is not as big as the west neither are the characters or the budgets of these films While the growth is evident it will still take a while for showrunners to provide us with attractive characters and stories that will compel us to make the switch Right now I am very happy with my lineup of movies and scripts I am working onAlso ReadWere Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra aware of groom kidnapping before signing Jabariya JodiCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates