Among the brightest talent in Bollywood is Ankit Rathi who gained popularity from his Hindi feature film 3 Storeys though he has done cameos in Fukrey, Singham 2. In 3 Storeys he played the lover boy Suhail who resides in a 3 storey chawl in Mumbai.
Ankit is now playing the lead role in Tarun Dhanrajgir’s upcoming romantic comedy Bolo Hau – Say Yes to Love alongside Jahnavi Dhanrajgir who makes her Bollywood debut in this Hyderabad based love story.
In an informal chat with Ankit, he mentioned that being from a Rajasthani background, he went to Hyderabad a couple of weeks prior to the commencement of his shoot just to get accustomed to the Hyderabadi culture and spend time with the locals. He realized that the city’s humour and the ‘leheza’ has typical sweetness that has not been yet depicted in the Bollywood flicks.
Ankit Rathi speaks to Paresh B Mehta, Editor of FilmyTown about his experiences during the making of Bolo Hau.
What is so different about the Hyderabadi culture that you observed?
Let me begin with the dialect that the Hindi spoken there is typical that of what we generally speak. Its the cute sweetness in their lingo that also appears a bit comic to our Mumbaikars. It’s their warm culture and in particular the various types of Biryani that I enjoyed, though being a vegetarian, I was amazed with the varieties in the veggie Biryanis.
Tell me about your role in the film Bolo Hau.
I play a lover-boy the boy-next-door type from a middle class family. He is happy with his middle class life and enjoying in his world and manages to meet his personal expenses by repairs and modification of cars. This boy falls in love with a cute girl who has a background of the Royals in Hyderabad. Bolo Hau is a love story with a masala tadka.
How was it working with Gulu Dada and under the director Tarun Dhanrajgir?
It was a great learning experience working with a stalwart of the South Film industry. Gulu Dada often joked about me saying that I look like Shahid Kapoor. I noticed that this legendary actor is actually very humble and down to earth.
Tarun Sir has been a model before and being an experienced actor himself, has been very kind enough to give space to a young actor. He is an actor’s dream director.
Can you instantly recall any particular incident or moment during the shooting of this film that would remain memorable throughout your professional career?
During the shooting of a particular song I had to give several re-takes as I could not properly lip-sync with the lyrics; and this is due to the fact that I have little experience of sur-taal. During the words ‘tauba tauba’ of the song Chhodo Ji Yeh Gussa in the film, I could not catch the beats even after practicing it for a couple of hours. Either the steps mis-matched or the portrayal of emotion during that particular beats where I had to touch Jahanvi’s face, I erred often during that particular moment and in retrospect I feel amused about it.
What do our readers look forward from you in 2021?
I am reading few scripts for web-series. Some of them are brilliant yet they continue to project me as the chocolatey boy or the boy next door. Now that I have visited South India, I would love to do a film in the South and even better, I have a wish to break the mold and would also love to do a powerful anti-hero character (Ankit Rathi ends with a wink).
BOLLYWOOD RETRO GEM MOVIES: Bobby was released on 28 September 1973 and was an instant hit amongst the Young India of the time. Teenage love stories were hitherto unseen on the Indian screens. That too with absolutely fresh faced youngsters actually acting their own age. This movie launched the careers of both Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia in lead roles.
