‘I chose Bhatt over Homeland’

Mumbai: Ali Fazal, a man with a boyish charm, Lucknowi mannerisms and playful and expressive eyes, is all set to woo the audience with his upcoming projects Sonali Cable and Khamoshiyan.

The 27-year-old actor, who was last seen in Vidya Balan-starrer Bobby Jasoos, informs, “The movie is releasing on October 17 and I am extremely thrilled about it. It is set in Maharashtra and is  about an ordinary girl whose small Internet broadband company comes in the way of expansion plans of one of the largest corporations. The script is penned by the film’s director Charudutt Acharya and produced by Ramesh and Rohan Sippy, whom I absolutely admire. I am playing the role of a boy named Raghav, who is also referred to as the ‘Internet boy’ in the movie and Rhea Chakraborty is playing the female lead. In the movie, they both belong to different strata of the society, so there is a great amount of contrast between the lead characters. Despite rivalry, he becomes the voice of her cable centre and they fall in love. It is an endearing movie, which I am hoping people will relate to.”

The film is packed with several intense scenes and Ali apparently has done his first ever on-screen intimate scene for a song in the movie. He says it was way out of his comfort zone but he enjoyed it. “Both Rhea and I were quite nervous before shooting for the much talked-about intense song, Ek Mulaqat. Ramesh sir decided to explain moment by moment choreography of hands, eyes and body language to us. It  helped us in making the scenes look sensuous. He took out time to direct the whole song and thanks to him, I believe it came out really well. I can happily say that it was much more than just kissing and intimate scenes,” says the actor.

Ali’s next project is with his dream director Mahesh Bhatt, for whom he gave up a Hollywood project. He was offered a role in popular American TV series Homeland that has till date won around five Golden Globe Awards and 10 Emmys but he preferred to work with Bhatt rather than going abroad. “Yes, I was approached for Homeland and it was a great opportunity. But they wanted to book my dates from June to September, which meant I had to skip the promotional tour of Bobby Jasoos as well as Bhatt sir’s project Khamoshiyan. I had already given a commitment to him and I did not want to step back. Working with him is the best thing that has happened to me and I got so many feedback from him,” he adds.

Elaborating about the role in Khamoshiyan he says, “It is a story about a boy who is a heartbroken writer and who is also a drunkard. It is a psychological thriller.”

Talking about the Rs 100 crore club, he shares, “People take themselves seriously and personally, I am quite opposite. I love doing whatever I am doing and believe in enjoying the journey. The box office is a great way to estimate your reach or the movie’s popularity index.” He is also doing a Pooja Bhatt film but preferred to stay tight-lipped at the moment.