Ashrut Jain: I will soon be pitching my own script

Ashrut Jain is ready to make a debut on the big screen with courtroom drama ‘

Mulk

’. Thereafter he will be seen in Shahid Kapoor starrer ‘

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

’. Amid all these hustles of on-camera activities, Ashrut says he would soon start pitching for his own scripts. In an exclusive interview with TimesOfIndia.com, Ashrut spoke about his debut movie ‘Mulk’, his character and about the writer side in him. Excerpts from the candid chat...


Ashrut as ‘Rashid’

Though ‘Mulk’ marks the first acting debut of Ashrut Jain, it must be noted that he is not a newbie in

Bollywood

. He has been a part of the industry for almost 12 years. Before coming up on the screen, he worked behind the camera in the casting department. Perhaps, that’s why he had a very well framed reply when asked about his part in the movie. Ashrut said, “The character I am playing is called Rashid. He is an integral part of the movie and I can’t reveal anything more than this as of now.”

However, he did add that his part has got a blend of both dark and positive shades to it. “My character is based on the journey of a regular guy, how one goes from dark to light and vice-a-versa.”

The 16-hours to 30-hours journey

Talking about how ‘Mulk’ happened to him, Ashrut averred, “It happened around the time when I was planning to visit my hometown Jabalpur. I got an audition call for ‘Mulk’ and after giving one to two rounds, I went to Jabalpur for a week. Then I got another call saying that makers loved my audition and that they would like to have a look test to take the things further.”

Elaborating more on the same, he added, “It was nine in the night when I got the call and the flight connectivity system in my hometown is a lot different from what it is in metros. So, I had to take a running ticket for a train and travel in the pantry coach of the train. It was last August when Mumbai was blessed with heavy rains so our train got stuck and there was water inside the compartments. Owing to the heavy rains, the audition date also got extended and the 16-hours journey turned into a 30-hours journey.”

Why ‘Mulk’?

On one hand, where debutants run after complete masala movies, Ashrut chose a serious family based story from the courtroom drama genre. On choosing ‘Mulk’, he said, “I am kind of a person who believes in Motherland over Mother; thus, I wanted to do a movie like this. It's about unity and India as one nation.”

Road trip to Pakistan
After bagging two back to back big projects (‘Mulk’ and ‘Batti Gul Meter Chalu’), Ashrut aspires to work on his own scripts. “I have written a script and titled it as ‘Road Trip To Pakistan’. It’s about a Hindu and Muslim guy on a road trip to Pakistan. The plot revolves around their journey,” he said.

When asked if the story was inspired from ‘Mulk’, he added, “No, I started working on the script way back, and soon I will be pitching the same.”