He likes to call himself ‘wonderfully single’ and his social media handles are flooded with his creative work. Arunoday Singh was recently in Kolkata to attend a literature festival when CT caught up with him. The Aisha, Yeh Saali Zindagi and Jism 2 actor spoke eloquently on a range of topics. Excerpts from the conversation:

Theatre will always be special. Stage is a place where one could be anything – I could be shy, gregarious and go back to being shy again because I am not an extrovert. Theatre is for actors. Movies are for many other people. After you have trained in theatre, memorized lengthy dialogues, doing movies is just a breeze.

I like the best of both theatre and films and am glad I get to do both. There is no formula for acting. One should do everything from gigs to theatres and training for films. No point wasting time.

I’ve done many villain roles not because I like to do it, but sometimes you do them because that’s all you are getting. I’m big, bald and bearded, and everyone just wants to beat me up. It’s a test because it helps you know if you’re in it because you like acting or if you just want to be famous. I’ve stopped doing them now. I need something more fun than that.

It is Bollywood and not everything needs to be nuanced and researched. Some characters require us to read up about them, some just require us to hit the gym regularly. It is important to read the script again and again till you’re familiar with it enough to perform it without making it look like a scene or that you’re acting.

I am fortunate to have worked in films spread across various genres — each role was new. Even if you think that you got something better, you start from scratch. Some roles are more challenging than the others based on how far they are from you geographically or culturally.

I love doing stunt scenes, they are more fun. It’s like being a kid on a playground and being paid for that. I like jumping around and climbing trees, those are fun kinaesthetically. I did train in physical theatre too.

We are not doing very well. The planet is dying, we are not treating each other the right way. Everyone’s killing each other for imaginary people in the sky. I don’t understand humanity at all, and the more things go on, the less I understand. If I have to pick things that bother me, then the worldwide state of democracy and climate change would be two of them.