A purser who persevered

Music composer, singer and now an actor… “I am exploring it, let’s put it this way. I am kind of exploring something and I enjoyed the process of shooting for six days for Neerja. I do a lot of things apart from film music and that’s my own publication company which is coming up soon, the production house which I have, I do my independent singles and now this acting thing which came my way. I feel really honoured to be a part of a story like Neerja Bhanot.”

“My role is just a cameo in the film, I play Sonam’s love interest. I was completely moved when I heard the story. The film was written and it’s Neerja’s story. Ram is a very old friend from advertising and he had told me that it’s a brief role and I respect him a lot. When he offered me this role, I told him that you know what if you ask me to be a statue in the garden also I will do it. I couldn’t say no to Ram,” he says while talking about the experience of being a part of a biopic.

Shekhar confesses that he wasn’t nervous, as a lot of people asked him, “I was de-stressed. It was actually a vacation for me, every single day was a learning experience. I wasn’t stressed about my looks or lines I just went with the flow and enjoyed every bit of it. The days I shot and the song I sang for the film Gehra Ishq – all this was a beautiful journey. While I was singing Sonam dropped by and the camera crew came. We thought it would be like a making video but it’s actually a video of the song now. All great things are happening with this film and Ram has actually made me a closer part of the film whether it’s discussing other songs or the background score. I feel that may be I am not too much in the film but I feel responsible for this film. I am one of the extended family members of the film.”

What inspired him? “Because Ram was convinced, I can. We did a screen test so at least I would be okay and even Ram would get that belief that this man can play the role of Jaideep. I am a musician and I will always remain one, but this happened organically. This might be one of the roads to walk a little ahead.”