Ten years, 13 movies — Sidharth Malhotra shares that he has no qualms about the “numbers” in his filmography. “I’ve never looked at the movie business as just a factory to churn out new stories or thought that I needed to fill up my dates,” the actor says, asserting that his mere intention is to work without any long breaks, but that “doesn’t mean I start choosing films for wrong reasons”.

Malhotra made his big screen debut in 2012 with Student Of The Year, and as he looks back, he says, “It doesn’t feel that long!” While reflecting on his choices, he adds, “The one thing I’ve realised in all these years is that you can’t wait for your time; you’ve got to prepare for your time. You’ve got to be ready for that audition, that film, that meeting, that scene... And that’s what I tried to do.”

From Hasee Toh Phasee, Ek Villain (both 2014), Ittefaq (2017), Aiyaary (2018) and Marjaavaan (2019), the 37-year-old has covered a variety of genres. “It’s something that keeps me excited and going,” responds the actor. “I hope it keeps my fans excited, too. Whether they see me on a poster or in a trailer, they’ll always feel a sense of freshness,” says Malhotra, who wants to “expand and get more involved in different types of stories, in more than just an actor capacity”.

Meanwhile, he confesses his love for the true story genre as he prepares for his next film, Mission Majnu, which will be released on Netflix. “I play a RAW agent in the film that’s inspired by true events, concerning the history of India with our neighbouring country,” shares the Shershaah (2021) actor, adding that for the first time, he plays a character from the ’70s, “so you’ll see a lot of that look in terms of costumes, which also makes the film fresh”.

Malhotra seems to be already smitten by his leading lady in the film, Rashmika Mandanna, whom he met for the first time during the prep: “One very interesting quality I observed about Rashmika is her sense of surrender. I found her to be so relaxed, and that’s something that felt like a big positive.”