Samir Soni recently marked his debut as an author with My Experiments With Silence: The Diary Of An Introvert. The actor, who has been maintaining a personal diary for years now, decided to put together pages and turn it into a book.

Talking about it, he says, “About 10 to 15 years back, there was a phase in my life when I decided to not socialise, talk or go out. Being an introvert, I wrote down whatever I felt. My thoughts were a part of my personal diary and not meant to be shared with anyone.”

So, what made him turn his journal into a book? “I was extremely apprehensive first. But I realised that it’s not just about me; it’s about a lot of people dealing with their own insecurities and fears. The book addresses a much larger issue of mental health. During the pandemic, you kept hearing about anxiety, depression and suicide all around you,” he says, adding that he too was faced with questions about his inner feelings.

With the positive feedback coming his way, Soni now wants to pen “an actual memoir”. He shares, “This book is more like a teaser to what’s going to come in the future. Writing is very therapeutic for me like it is for most people who are introverts. I would like to believe that I have a little flair for putting pen to paper. The next book will be about me looking back at life from the place I’m right now at.”

The Chehre actor reveals that his wife, actor Neelam Kothari, was fairly surprised after she read the book. “I was a little scared initially about how she would react. But when started reading, she was like, ‘Wow, this is rather deep stuff.’ I’ve no idea how the rest of my family will react to it because nobody knows about this part of me!” he ends.

“I am embarrassed on birthdays. I even switch off my phone,” says Samir Soni, who turns 53 today. The birthday boy says growing up “we didn’t celebrate too much”. “Now, I am older; if you are turning 18, one can be excited,” he adds. Soni always prefers having a quiet dinner with his family and he has only thrown three-four birthday parties in his life. “I am going to stay 40 till I turn 60,” he quips.

The actor had four film releases this year, including Mumbai Saga, The Big Bull, State Of Siege: Temple Attack and Chehre, and two web shows, Puncch Beat and Cartel. He is enjoying working constantly and is glad that people are seeing him in a different light. “I recently shot for Saurabh Shukla’s directorial and a Vikram Bhatt series with Sunny Leone. Cartel, too, got a great response and people loved my negative role. Earlier, people saw a nice-looking guy and cast me in older brother, young husband or rich tycoon roles. I got typecast. Now that I am older, I am getting mature roles. Now, the focus is not on my looks, but my acting. Negative roles are fun, as there are no boundaries,” he says.

Soni is also excited about his book that will be out next month. He admits unlike other celeb books, it won’t be a memoir. “It is an exploration of being an introvert and how to survive in an extrovert world. It also has part of my diary. I have questioned what is right and wrong. Why do we emphasise on being rich or famous? I’ve discussed conditioning and basic values, especially now that there are many mental health issues. Our society puts pressure on people to look and be a certain way. In fact, my condition to the publishers was to not have my face on the cover of the book,” says Soni, who featured in films like Baghban (2003) and Vivah (2006) in the past.