Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; October 24, 2019)

Being part of a film that does stupendous business at the box office is a joy. Every actor wants his or her film to be seen by the most number of people and superhits are possible when a film is watched multiple times,” says actor Ashutosh Rana, talking about the success of the Hrithik Roshan-Tiger Shroff-starrer War, which also features him.

Ashutosh proved his mettle way back with Dushman (1999) and Sangharsh (2000). And the movies he has done of late have also given his career a boost. Last year, for instance, he was seen in Simmba, Dhadak and Mulk, besides Sonchiriya this year. The actor feels being part of a film like War has a huge impact on one’s career. “Aditya Chopra’s production house, Karan Johar’s production house and Rohit Shetty are like the chaar dhaam’. As in Hindu religion, even if you visit many famous temples, doing the chaar dhaam yatra is a must. Similarly, being an actor, after having worked with them I feel I am completely a part of the film industry. I have worked with so many other talented filmmakers but having these diggaj (stalwart) filmmakers in my filmography takes it to another level,” he says.

After shooting for Vicky Kaushal-starrer Bhoot, he is now working on Guneet Mongia’s next, Priyadarshan’s Hungama 2, another film with Aditya Chopra’s production house, a Telugu web show, a Kannada film and a web series based on the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Ashutosh is known for his impeccable command over Hindi and says talking in Urdu while playing a historical character was a pleasure for him. “Hum bhaasha ke anugrahi hai, pujari hai. So, whenever I speak in Hindi, Urdu, English, Tamil or Telugu, I try to use the language in a pure form and not use Hindi while speaking English or vice versa. Urdu and Hindi have been spoken in India for years and essentially, we speak Hindustani zubaan. It wasn’t tough to talk in Urdu for the show as the language was not as chaste as it might have been in that era. That’s because the show is set in 1700s but the audience watching it is from 2019, so we have kept that in mind,” he shares.