Reel life, real characters

Your role in One by Two isn’t that of a conventional hero, although that’s something you could have influenced, by virtue of being the film’s producer…
We’ve had a hero-worshipping culture for way too long now. We keep showing that a hero and heroine are better than regular people. Now that is not being real, we just project it as real. That’s unfair... What makes a movie entertaining? Situations. It is best to have characters that conform to you in real life as well. The entertainment quotient comes from the plot while empathy comes from real characters.

So in real life, do you feel as liberated as your character in the film?
It is all about the mental space that we are in. It is either something that we decide for ourselves or perhaps an external stimulus that acts as a catalyst to liberate us. I’ll share something personal with you: There was a time when I was depressed about not having enough support. I looked at others who had that advantage and felt sorry for myself. Fortunately, I was still working with new talent. I focused on the positives, and automatically this liberation happened. It is just that someone may reach the destination before you and then you may reach that point a little later in life.

Your real life partner Preeti Desai stars opposite you in the film. Wasn’t it weird to be in a relationship and play perfect strangers in the film?
(Laughs) It would have been weird even if we were not playing strangers. After all, we were not playing Abhay and Preeti but two altogether different characters. For me, that was weird enough!