By Hindustan Times
Actor Abhay Deol, who's playing a regular Tamilian IAS officer in Shanghai, says director Dibakar Banerjee pushed him out of his comfort zone to play the nature. The 36-year-old actor has played every character with ease, be it a thief in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye or the hopeless romantic in Socha Na Tha, but Abhay says the role of a Tamilian in Shanghai scared him.
"My character is something which I USED TO BE really afraid of doing. When Dibakar approached me with this I ATTEMPTED to convince him to make my character a Punjabi Arya Samaji. But he didn't take heed to me.
"Then it became a challenge for me. The unhappy thing was that we needed to search for someone to show me the accent. A writer called Madi taught me the accent.
"But I DID NOT want my character to be stereotypical. There have been a lot of obstacles nevertheless it was more interesting to play someone who's not known to you," Abhay said.
Abhay says his character has got various layers within the film, with the intention to make audience guessing whether he's playing a negative or a white character.
"My character has got various layers. After watching the film, people will have different opinion about my character. Some may feel that i'm more towards the positive side and others may feel the other. My character may be very tricky."
Abhay is sharing screen space with Emraan Hashmi and says he has become partial to his co-star after working with him.
"I have watched couple of his films earlier and i've always felt he's one of the vital underrated actors of the industry, like me. We both haven't received that success within the industry which we deserve. He has acted brilliantly within the film and if somebody says he has surpassed me within the film, I CAN'T feel bad or jealous," he said.
"Shanghai", also starring Kalki Koechlin, will hit the theaters on June 8.
