With 'Jism 2', Sunny Leone has started well: Arunoday Singh

Arunoday Singh speaks to Ananya Bhattacharya of Zeenews.com about the experience of working in ‘Jism 2’, his equation with Sunny Leone and a lot more. Excerpts from the conversation:

Tell me about your experience of working in ‘Jism 2’. The experience is always good. It was a very smart thing for me to do (the film) because I really liked the script. They’d managed to get a nice film that would have a lot of buzz and hype and a good story – it was a win-win – and they’ll not let you down. After ‘Aisha’, how has the journey been so far? After ‘Aisha’ it was great. I did ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’, and it kind of annoys me that people remember ‘Aisha’ more than ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’ (laughs)! I had no part in ‘Aisha’ – I was just a guy walking around without my shirt. That’s not acting! I enjoyed ‘Aisha’, but it always hurts when people remember that more than ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’. ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’ saw a different you altogether. Your character had a rustic, brash kind of charm to it. Yeah, but you said ‘Aisha’, no... Dil tod diya! (laughs) But the journey’s been good. I moved from being in the background to the foreground – not bad. What is your role in ‘Jism 2’ all about? I’m playing Ayan, who’s an Indian Intelligence officer. He is on a team whose mission is to capture Randeep. Ayan gets told that Sunny Leone’s character Izna and Randeep’s character Kabir had a connection way back in the past. Ayan doesn’t know anybody else – it’s just that Kabir has mentioned Izna to his shrink. So we’re going to use her, I’m going to go undercover as her fiancé and we’ll pretend to be a couple so that we can draw Kabir out of hiding. During the mission, Izna and Ayan actually fall in love. And there are some strong feelings, but it turns out that she still loves Randeep, and everybody gets caught in this melee of love and lust, and duty. That’s the film. How was it working with Pooja Bhatt and the Bhatt camp, in general? It was great, fantastic, fun. Pooja has a very fine aesthetic sense; she’s very fierce – which I really like. She gets everybody to work their best and doesn’t take crap from anyone. Until and unless she gets what she wants, nobody goes home. And I like that because that means that somebody is there to ensure that I do my best – most people, at the end of the day, are lazy. Coming to the music of the film, it’s already creating hailstorms and whirlpools in the country. People have been addicted to the songs. Which one is your favourite number? We appreciate the marketing help (winks). ‘Abhi abhi’ is my favourite track, and that’s my song in the film too. All the other songs revolve around all three of us, but ‘Abhi abhi’ has me in most of it. How was it acting with Sunny Leone? I remember what it was like for me when I entered the industry. It’s the same kind of empathy. All I care about is that somebody’s is present and paying attention. If that first step is accomplished, the acting comes on its own. Sunny does that. She learnt all her lines in a way that most stars don’t do. It was very difficult for her and she put in a lot of work. We rehearsed for a month – we met for about three hours every day just to go over the dialogues. She’s done a good job. And even though her voice has been dubbed, if you can’t emote on your face, viewers can’t catch even a moment of what you’re trying to do. It was quite impressive – very impressive – I think she’s got a long way to go and she’s started well. What are you doing after ‘Jism 2’? I’m hopefully working with Sudhir Mishra again. There are also a couple of other things, but not on paper yet. And unless they are on paper, they don’t mean anything to me. In Bollywood, everything changes all the time, and even when they are on paper! How do you expect the movie would work out? I have a lot of expectations from the movie. Box Office aside, I hope people really get to take away a lot more than they think they’re going in to see. It’s a very powerful story. We’re hoping that what you expect, we can deliver – and give you a lot more. That’s my expectation from the film. Everybody who’s watched it till now, have told that to me – and it’s a nice thing to hear. It’s nice to be told that you’re sexy and you look hot in the film, and it’s also nice to be told that you made me cry. That means I earned my paycheck! Follow @nanya116