Between Rock' & a starred place!

Rock On 2 was a much-awaited film for a plethora of reasons. But for Bengaluru boy Priyanshu Painyuli, the film was more than just a highly anticipated sequel. The actor has made his Bollywood debut with the Farhan Akhtar-starrer in which he plays actress Shraddha Kapoor’s brother.

Speaking about his tryst with the film, Priyanshu reveals, “I auditioned for it last year. I chatted with Abhishek Banerjee (the casting director) and asked him to give me two days to prepare for the role. I didn’t sleep for two days, and this helped my character. After I gave the shot, they really liked it and I met the director.”

Having been an admirer of Farhan’s versatility, Priyanshu was delighted that he got to share screen space with him.“I’ve been getting great responses and people have actually connected to what I did. My role is crucial in the film — it’s like the twist in the story,” he says, as he keeps us in suspense.

Taking us back to his early days, Priyanshu reveals that he was born in Delhi and moved here in 1995. Having spent most of his growing up years here, he calls himself a north Indian from south India!

“I know the south Indian languages more than my hometown (Dehradun’s) language, thanks to my friends here,” he smiles. With great passion for theatre, Priyanshu was involved with plays and cultural activities to such an extent, that he ended up with an attendance shortage in college! “That’s when I decided to pursue filmmaking. I did a lot of short films, documentaries, events, music videos. etc.”

His insatiable love for acting led him to the city of dreams — Bombay in 2010. Priyanshu did a lot of theatre and even worked with seasoned actors like Rajit Kapoor and Shernaz Patel.

“Later, I did a Bollywood musical Taj Express which took me to places like France, Russia and Turkey,” he recalls. Post this, Priyanshu bagged a web series Bang Baaja Baarat by Yash Raj Films. The series got a whopping number of views on YouTube.

“People started recognising me on the road — they’d ask me when the second season would be out. I am very conscious of the kind of projects I want to do. Even if it’s a supporting part, it should add something to the story,” he says.

The other movies in his kitty include an Indo-German film called Once Again and Vikramaditya Motwane’s Bhavesh Joshi, which also stars Harshvardhan Kapoor. The conversation veers back to Rock On 2 and the actor says, “I wanted to prove myself and gave it my best shot. Luckily, everything fell into place and there was applause when my scene ended. Farhan hugged me and said it was a great scene.”

As for Shraddha, he says, “She’s a really sweet person. We belong to the same age group, so we connected really well. She’s a very positive person and with her, you don’t feel like you’re acting with a star.”

Coming to the city he misses the most, Priyanshu says, “I get very nostalgic when I go to places like Pecos. I also like the breweries in Bengaluru. Whenever I come here, I visit at least one brewery and enjoy my brunch and beer.”