Mooted as one of the most promising actors in Bollywood, Mohit Madaan is playing a pivotal role in Aksar 2 (a sequel to the 2006 film Aksar).
A Business Professional Degree holder who was born in Delhi and since childhood his parents decided to migrate to New Zealand. All his schooling and college having done there, here is a dude who has completed his Degree in Business in Information Management and then pursued Chartered Accountancy. Then what is he doing in the Filmy Town – Bollywood?
“It was while in New Zealand that I developed keen interest watching hindi films though the cinema hall was more than an hour’s drive from our house. Being a crazy fan of SRK and Akshay Kumar, I must have watched practically every hindi film screened there,” justifies Mohit Madaan.
While working, he attended New York Film Academy for film making and acting courses. But he believes that getting degrees and paper certificates are just a theory for your foundation in the profession. Whatever you learn practically in the field on the job create more weightage for you as an individual.
Having no filmy connection at all, he is in Bombay since 3-4 years yearning to make it big in Bollywood though he had offers for roles in Hollywood films, what made him opt for Bollywood, “Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani,” he quipped.
“When my parents moved back in India, I decided to try it out in apna Filmy Town itself as I am deeply rooted in the Indian culture. Initially to begin my acting career in hindi film and then where ever life takes me to,” said Mohit whose first film was a family-romantic drama ‘Love Exchange’ where he played a middle class Marathi ‘mulga’.
FilmyTown catches up with Mohit Madaan.
What is your role in the film Aksar 2?
Along with Zareen Khan, Gautam Rode and Abhinav Shukla in the film, I play Bachan Singh who is a good character who is eventually trapped in the mind games and appears to change shades somewhere or the other due to changes in the circumstances all because of the universal evil within an individual – attraction for big money.
Doesn’t working for Television excite you?
Everytime something came up, it would always clash with his film shooting schedules, though I am keen to do Television too. Television requires you to be committed for a longer time on a daily basis, hence could not take up anything in that front being an ethical person himself aiming to do anything seriously when committed.
How did you land up with doing Aksar 2?
There were few films coming my way but didn’t want to rush into anything I am not confident about. All of a sudden the opportunity for Aksar 2 when I happened to meet Narendra Bajaj who called me for a casual meet where Anant Narayan Mahadevan too was present. We conversed for a while and they called me the next day and had 3 to 4 auditions, finally they offered me the character of Bachan Singh’s in the suspense thriller – Aksar 2.
Aksar 2 – what is it all about?
It is a suspense thriller about intense mind games going on between three pivotal characters having and to sum – the root of all evil is money. A fast paced film which will keep the audience guessing till the end with twists and turns all throughout. The pivotal characters are unknowingly and unwillingly get trapped as they individually see an opportunity to get easy money which eventually comes with consequences. Because of the circumstances all the characters get tied to each other.
So you are doing a grey character in the film?
All of us have a bit of grey in us because somewhere or the other at some moments one is a little bit (khudgarz) selfish – that is what you are doing – you look out for yourself.
The trailer has breath-taking locales. Where has it been shot?
More than 80 percent of the film is shot in Mauritius and the remaining was in Mumbai. Mauritius is a beautiful place and it was all working for us with a little bit of holidays.
What was is about you getting hurt during an action scene?
No, it wasn’t an action scene that I was doing. A particular scene where Zarine Khan had a tray in her hand and was supposed to fling it, but because of mis-timing, it unfortunately landed on my head. In the night I had to sit with ice-packs though it was an harrowing night that followed. But other than this, we had smooth sailing all throughout.
What are your upcoming films?
After Aksar 2 my next upcoming film is ‘Ishq Tera’ which is in post production and it stars Hrishtaa Bhatt, directed by Jojo D’Souza and produced by Deepak Bandekar. It is a love story about commitment to love about a couple and is a family drama.
Another film which is in the initial stages – a thriller romance-comedy directed by Awni Agrawal which will be going on floors next month.
Where do you see yourself placed in Bollywood few years down the line?
For me as an actor – my journey should be moving ahead and should not bring me a step back because in our industry the script is the king. If you choose a wrong film even after using your best judgement you lose almost a year of your career. I take time to select films as I deeply think about the character I would be playing in the film and whether I would be able to relate to it and fully justify the role or not.
Say five years hence, I would like to be much ahead of what I am today and be known as a good actor, a director’s actor and an actor who is widely appreciated by the audience.
How was it working with Zarine, Gautam and Abhinav?
Zareen Khan is so sweet that shee made me feel that I am working with friends, Gautam Rodey is very disciplined actor and Abhinav is an established TV actor. But the credit goes to director who is an actor himself who made sure we worked together as a team.
