I'd love to do a south film: Aarya Babbar

His last outing at the box office, Tees Maar Khan, may not have fared as well as he had hoped, but that hasn’t stopped Aarya Babbar from bagging several film projects — Bollywood, regional and international.
At the risk of sounding “pompous”, something for which he laughingly apologises, the actor rattles off a long list of films that will keep him busy through the year — the Salman Khan-starrer Ready, the international flick Azaan, Choron Ki Baraat that stars Om Puri and Rajpal Yadav, Kuch Log with Gulshan Grover, Mumbhaii that also features Om Puri, Sanjay Kapoor and Mahima Chaudhary, the tentatively titled Maximum with Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur, and U-turn with Nana Patekar.
Working with Salman Khan, says Aarya, proved to be quite a learning experience, and not just in the acting department. “Working with Salman is fantastic. He is moody, no doubt, but he has a heart of gold. It’s a great experience to work with such a big star. You understand the kind of glamour and aura that comes with stardom,” he says.
While Aarya is playing the bad guy in Ready, a character he describes as “comical and part of the family”, he is also playing an Afghani Pathan who smuggles a virus into India in Azaan, and a jihadi terrorist in Kuch Log. But he insists he isn’t only playing characters with shades of grey, and cites Choron Ki Baraat, a comic caper about bookies, and his next Punjabi film, an “out-and-out” romantic film, as examples. “I want to do diverse roles. It’s not that I want to play only characters with grey shades. I’m an actor and I will do all kinds of films as long as I like the director, script and role,” says Aarya.
Since the self-proclaimed “proud Punjabi” has vowed that he will do a Punjabi film every year, would he be interested in venturing into other regional cinema in the south? “I would love to do a south film. Hindi films have lost the kind of heroism south films have. I’m open to doing a south film — either as a hero or a negative character — if it’s a good role,” he says.
Aarya’s jam-packed film schedule means that his other passion, theatre, will have to take a back seat. Since he has written and directed his own play, does he ever feel the urge to get behind the camera? “I’m happy being directed by someone. Being a director is a lot of responsibility. I only want to take on the responsibility of an actor,” he maintains.
What is the status of his relationship with his brother Prateik, who Aarya blasted in print for dropping his surname and then calling Abhishek Bachchan his brother? “That topic is off limits. I said things in an emotional outburst. I said it once and that’s it,” he says.
anjali.muthanna@timesgroup.com