Rohit Roy is gearing up to resume work on his upcoming gangster film next month
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 18, 2020)

While working out at home to stay fit has become the new normal during the pandemic, Rohit Roy has a more compelling reason to pump iron. The actor, who is part of John Abraham’s gangster troupe as the hefty Jaykar Shinde aka Baba in Mumbai Saga, is yet to shoot a few scenes and songs, and will be flying down to the Ramoji Rao Film City with the rest of the team next month. “Unlike Shootout At Lokhandwala’s Fattu, this time I play a 80-kilo, street-smart ruffian and had to beef up to maintain continuity,” he informs.

Having grown up in a chawl together, Baba is the closest aide of John’s Ganpat Ram Bhonsle in the Sanjay Gupta directorial and Rohit was surprised to find that the actor, who has earlier played a gangster in Shootout At Wadala, is nothing like the brooding macho man one sees on screen. “John has a great sense of humour, delivered poker-faced. Once, after a particularly intense stunt, he quipped, ‘Ismein toh sirf Rohit ka tricep dikh raha hai.’ After working with Hrithik (Roshan) in Kaabil, I was sure I’d never find another co-star who’s just as secure, but he and John are cut from the same cloth,” Rohit raves, adding that the set of the all-boys film was a riot. “By the end of it, Kajal Aggarwal was one of the boys too!” he guffaws.

Set in the 1980s-90s, the story chronicles how Bombay became Mumbai. Wasn’t that a political decision though? “A lot of factors led up to the change, which is what the story, inspired by real events, is about. There’s no shootout here, but a direct faceoff between cops and gangsters,” reveals the actor, who himself had a brush with the underworld when he was just starting out. “I was called for a narration and told to do the film with a gun casually pointed at me from the table. I had no choice but to give my nod. Thankfully, it was shelved,” he shudders at the memory.

Rohit is currently busy directing and acting in a series of inhouse shorts with wife, Manasi Joshi. Daughter Kiara is the DoP. “I have also adapted a book into a screenplay for my first directorial. I’m not doing it with Sanjay Leela Bhansali anymore. I moved on from that because it was taking a lot of time,” he clarifies.