Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; July 29, 2017)

Akshay Oberoi is gearing up for the release of his next, Gurgaon, that has him playing a dark and menacing character. It was when he was shooting for Fitoor that he was approached for Gurgaon. “Ajay Rai who has produced films like Quila and Nil Battey Sannata was the line producer of Fitoor. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra was with me on the sets when Ajay spoke to him. Later, he handed me the script. When I read the script, I was scared as nobody had come to me with a character like that. And, I decided to do it,” shares Akshay.

The actor had been part of a campaign ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ against domestic violence with Madhuri Dixit that got him noticed. “The director of Gurgaon had seen it and wanted me in the film. The movie required me to learn Rohtaki Hindi for which I got a diction coach Prakash Bharadwaj. He had coached Aamir Khan for PK and Dangal. I used to sit with him for four hours every day for two months,” he says. The actor plays the complex character of Nikki Singh, who is a neglected child of a wealthy landowner. While it is common for fathers to pass on their business to the sons, it doesn’t happen in Nikki’s case and he decides to stand for himself. Akshay did not need much preparation to play the character despite the fact that he had to show his dark side. “I was going through a difficult phase, professionally and personally. I could project all that pain in the character. I let everything out, and it was therapeutic. After that, I felt fearless. What I took away from the character is one should just work your butt off and love what you do.”

As for the film clashing with Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Harry Met Sejal, he says, “How can there be any competition? His film will earn in crores, and even if we earn around Rs 40-50 lakhs it will be good!”