Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; January 28, 2020)

Director Mohit Suri’s Aashiqui 2 (2013) made Aditya Roy Kapur an overnight sensation. Seven years later, the duo is back together for Malang. Talking about working with Aditya, the writer-director says, “I’ve seen a huge growth in Aditya. When the narrative of the film is connected to the personal journey of an actor, it hits the right note. He has been my friend since Aashiqui 2. He said to me, ‘I stood by you through hits and flops but you’ve always treated me as a friend and not as an actor. You work with everyone else but me’.”

Mohit reveals that it was Aditya who was instrumental in giving life to Malang. “He was part of the writing process. He took the initiative and pushed us to write the film. Aditya has been pushing the film since the beginning and he made sure that it happened,” he shares.

Mohit says that Aditya is seamlessly transitioning “from a hippie to a hero” in his real life. “It’s similar to his character’s journey in Malang. I always knew that Aditya had the intensity to pull this character off because I had done Aashiqui 2 with him. Maybe, I can get under his skin. I directed him but he walked through this journey on his own,” he says.

Shedding light on Aditya’s preparation for the film, Mohit elaborates, “He changed his physique, body language, and grew a beard. The image that you see of him in the promos and the poster isn’t a touched up image. To build a ripped physique, you need to change your mental makeup, too. To enter the mind of his character, he slept for eight hours, didn’t shave and stopped going out.”

The Hamari Adhuri Kahani (2015) director adds, “When I asked him why filmmakers don’t see and explore this side of him, he said that nobody has given him that chance yet. I wouldn’t have cast him in [my next] Ek Villain 2 if he didn’t have this kind of a mental makeup. His journey from the hippie to the hero and then from the hero to the villain is impressive. He has grown up immensely over the last six years.”

Mohit wishes that Malang gives Aditya the due that he deserves. “I hope for him that Malang does really well. When a person takes all his cards and places them on the table and says that this is it, it normally does fall into place. I enjoy working with him. There’s a certain amount of faith that we both have in each other,” signs off Mohit.