NEW DELHI: He is one actor who seems to have virtually gone unnoticed amid the bulk of media focus centred on superstar Shahrukh Khan and supermodel Deepika Padukone in the run up to Diwali release of Farah Khan's 'Om Shanti Om'.
In the beeline among television channels, for the sound bytes galore from Deepika and Shah Rukh Khan, Shreyas Talpade, a key actor of 'Om Shanti Om' who plays a stellar role in the film, seems to have been almost forgotten.
For Shreyas, who plays a close friend of Shah Rukh in the film, the fact that he got an opportunity to know first hand the 'Badhshah of Bollywood' and share screen space with him in 'Om Shanti Om' is a heady feeling.
''I have been a huge fan of Shah Rukh Khan. In this sense, I feel I am extremely fortunate to have got a chance so early in my film career to work alongside him,'' Shreyas said on the eve of release of 'Om Shanti Om' next week.
''Working with Shah Rukh Khan was an exciting feeling more so since he brings to the film and his scenes a lot of improvisations in order to improve the film, which makes him the remarkable actor and performer that he is,'' Shreyas said.
''Shah Rukh's ability to improvise on the sets perhaps comes from the fact that he hails from a theatre background. Being from a theatre background myself, I know that this habit to improvise comes naturally for those hailing from the world of theatre,'' Shreyas said.
Talking about his experiences of working with the 'King Khan' during the shooting of 'Om Shanti Om', Shreyas says, ''While on the sets, Shah Rukh often makes his contribution to the role something that I am also used to doing being from the theatre background. So, during the shooting for 'Om Shanti Om', we hit it off instantly."
''I fondly recall that both of us together used to lend little improvisations to our characters in terms of their hand movement and gestures. All this made working with Shah Rukh a really exciting experience.''
Shreyas said working with Shah Rukh never made him feel he was working with a superstar.
''Working with Shah Rukh never makes one feel one is working with a superstar. Apart from being a brilliant actor, Shah Rukh is an extremely good human being which is why I feel he is in the position he is today. In this sense, getting to know him from close quarters has made me like him all the more,'' Shreyas said.
''What is remarkable about Shah Rukh is that as a co-star he is an extremely generous actor. He has no qualms of giving two extra lines to an actor appearing in the same frame as him. This is something that one does not see in the industry where actors are hungry for more dialogues. And here is one actor who is overeager to give his lines to a co-actor,'' Shreyas said.
Featuring Shah Rukh Khan in the lead along with model-turned actor Deepika Padukone, 'Om Shanti Om' is scheduled for release worldwide on November 9.
'Om Shanti Om'
Anyway, now for the reason the interview was conducted in the first place—'Om Shanti Om'. "I play a horrible, nasty film producer with dirty mannerisms," he says. Anything close to what he is as a film producer? And he laughs. "No, not close at all. It's different, but I'm glad I played it. It helped me explore my dark side." They say everyone has a dark side, don't they? "Yes, I think we all have dark sides, if someone says he doesn't, he's a liar," he amswers.
Future talk
Speaking of him as a producer would he still be doing other things after 'I See U'? "Yes, we're going to make two movies next year. " Ask him what he's planning to do on the fashion front (considering he and model wife Mehr Jessia are one of the first couples of Indian fashion, he being Rohit Bal's muse, and she Tarun Tahiliani's) and he tells you to wait. Arjun is also doing a movie called 'EMI' with Sanjay Dutt, Urmilla Matondkar and 'a pile' of other stars. Also in the pipeline is the Farhan Akhtar movie he can't talk about.
Private truths
"I do realise, we're public figures, but the family is no one's concern, a few things should be private," says Arjun. And what about the people, who're open about their families? "If you make your home into a circus, then you are a caged animal. Aren't you?"
