‘A gangster’s life freaked me out’

Shabbir Ahluwalia was left shocked as he portrayed a gangster in his debut film

Shabbir Ahluwalia who has endeared the audience as the adorable Rishi of ‘Kahiin To Hoga’ (Star Plus) will be seen in a contrasting role in his debut film ‘Shootout At Lokhandwala’.

Shabbir says, “I play the role of a gangster called RC. It was a different experience playing this role because I had to develop a different style to play it. I grew a beard and had to adopt a different body language to look like a gangster. I also had to adopt a different walking style.”

He adds, “As I played the character, I realised how different and difficult a gangster’s life is. It looked too unreal to be true. It freaked me out. I would be  dumbfounded at the situations they face in life.”

Shabbir, who has so far acted on the small screen, says that acting for the big screen wasn’t any different except that it gave the unit enough time to plan things in advance. He shares, “Whether it’s films or television, you work equally hard. However in films, you get more time to plan and execute the scenes. And yes, the film unit is more punctual!”

Shabbir says that working on this film was like being at home because of his long association with its co-producer Ekta Kapoor. “I already know Rohit (Roy) and Tusshar (Kapoor) who are also co-starring in the film. And Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty are very humble beings. They didn’t make me feel uneasy at all. When you work with a multi star-cast, you can’t help but learn,” he states.   

Even as Shabbir hopes his performance will be appreciated, he stresses that the medium of acting doesn’t matter to him as long as he gets to do good roles. “I will be content doing good work; the medium doesn’t matter,” he smiles. 

On asking who he would like to work with next, he beams, “Apurva (Lakhia) and Sanjay (Gupta).” 

p_sapana@dnaindia.net