Sidharth Malhotra: Made space in action genre with ”Brothers”

From an affable lover boy in his debut film “Student of the year” to an aggressive MMA fighter in the Akshay Kumar-starrer “Brothers”, actor Sidharth Malhotra has come a long way.

Though “Ek Villain” also saw him in an angry young man role, Sidharth counts it as his biggest achievement that he could convincingly pull off the action avatar in his latest film.

“With this movie, there were so many things, which were non-conventional. People do not associate me with these kind of grey and aggressive characters. I did not have any love story. So, on paper there were a lot of wrongs for me,” the actor told PTI.

“It is fulfilling when the risk that you take pays off.

You do some films for just playing those characters. I am really excited with the response I am getting.”

Sidharth said he experienced a high when he visited a theatre in Mumbai and saw people applauding and rooting for him during the fight sequences in the film.

“People’s favourite scene is the climax. They genuinely believed when my shoulder breaks, they can feel my pain or when Akshay sir is choking me. The compliment came from action, people actually felt I could kick some people. Because that’s one thing they don’t associate with me when they saw ‘Student’ or ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’.

“If I could convince the audience with my action in this film, that’s all my hardwork paying off. It is the biggest positive for me that a dark grey character who can do great action…” he said.

Sidharth feels motivated to do better action films and carve a niche in the genre.

“(‘Brothers’) will give me confidence and conviction to do better action in future. The fact that I could make a space in action through this film despite having Akshay opposite me, if I could still make an impact, people still enjoyed it, it feels really exciting. I have opened one more door for myself,” the actor said

Five-film-old in the industry, Sidharth is happy he has been able to explore genres as it has helped him recognise his depth as an actor.

“I’ve learnt a lot personally during my transition from a romantic hero to action genre. I never knew I had so much aggression and anger inside me.

“At times I was left surprised and intrigued by myself.

Adaptability is the key for me. I want people to guess whether to put me in action or romance. I want to adapt to every kind of genre.”

“Brothers” success is more special for the young star as he spent over four months to build the required body for his role, in the time when his contemporary Varun Dhawan had the box-office ringing with two hits in “Badlapur” and “ABCD 2”.

Sidharth, however, said he faced no insecurity from Varun’s success as he was more worried about doing his part with conviction.

He added the duo, who started their career with the same film, share a close friendship independent of their professional competition.

“The day I start letting competition come in between my personal relations I will count it as my defeat as a person. I went to celebrate ‘Badlapur’ and ‘ABCD 2’ success because Varun is a friend. It will be too immature of us to let something like this affect our bond.”

Four out of five movies of Sidharth have been produced by filmmaker Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and the actor’s upcoming drama “Kapoor and Sons” is also produced by the same banner.

“I want Karan to make as many films as he can with me. We are after all Dharma talent, so I want to be used by them. I want their films starring me to earn profits. I don’t want to let down Karan ever. Whatever I am today, it is because of Karan Johar. I have every reason to be grateful to him and Dharma.”

Besides “Kapoor and Sons”, Sidharth has Excel Entertainment’s love story opposte Katrina Kaif and he is in talks to star in “Bang Bang! 2”.

Inputs by PTI