From playing a rapper Gully Boy, to charming the audiences as Zain in Gehraiyaan and recently turning on his action avatar in Yudhra, Siddhant Chaturvedi has dabbled in a variety of genres in a short span since his debut. In the city for an event a while ago, the actor spoke to us about doing action sequences, trying different roles and more. Excerpts from a chat:

Siddhant says he’s on the lookout for a variety of roles. He has stuck to that thought and will continue to, through his upcoming films. “I just keep trying to do different things,” says the actor, adding, “There’s a risk of failure as well because people might not like or accept you in a certain role. But sometimes you have to fail when you're trying to go into unknown territory. I'm young, I want to understand failure. I don't want to reach a height and then fail because that would be too big of a fall. I am fine taking a step in a new direction, failing, getting up and trying again.”

Siddhant believes that trying different things also helps him evolve as an actor. “I want to surprise the audience with whatever I do. Acting is like being a magician. The audience should not know what you're going to pull out of the hat. That’s the feeling I want to give the audience,” he shares.

Siddhant recently did a lot of action in Yudhra and got to work with international stunt director Nick Powell, who has projects like Gladiator, The Bourne Identity, RRR and Kalki to his credit.

Speaking about getting into the action mode, Siddhant says, “If you're doing long sequences without cuts, it's highly important to understand each moment, along with the breathing pattern. When you start doing action, you are pumped but Nick asked me to slow down and do it all at a 20% speed. I would get restless but then he told me how he trained other actors, including Tom Cruise, like that.”

Recalling the climax shoot Siddhant adds, “When we finally shot the scene, I could see all that Nick had told me coming together automatically. It felt like a magical process. I think I'll follow this every time I do an action scene.”

Originally from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, Siddhant has fond memories of being raised in a small town. However, He is yet to get a chance to portray such a character on screen. “I have an urban image because of the films I've done. Barring Dhadak 2, I never got a role which was rooted in a smaller town. My roles have been very aspirational. I want to be aspirational, but I also feel sad about not getting to play roles that reflect my background. When Khesari Lal Yadav and Pawan Singh's Bhojpuri songs are played at home, my thumkas come out. No one has seen me like that and I’m waiting for something like this to come my way.”