Disha Patani on Ek Villain Returns: I can confidently say that until the end you won’t know what's happening in the film

Disha Patani has always been a huge fan of thrillers, action movies, action-comedies, and horror is something she enjoyed as an audience and perhaps that is the reason she has been saying yes, as an actor, to action-thrillers off-late. She played a free-spirited girl in her last theatrical release Malang and her new film, Ek Villain Returns (co-starring John Abraham, Arjun Kapoor and Tara Sutaria) a successor to Mohit Suri’s 2014 film Ek Villain, is a suspense action-thriller. “I am a huge fan of the first one - Ek Villain. But Ek Villain Returns is a completely different story. First one was more about the hero and this one is more about the villains. As an actor I have a bigger scope of experimenting with grey as compared to white or black,” says Patani.

She furthers as she decodes the film’s storyline and suspense quotient excitedly, “We all have grey shade in us, none of us are perfect and none of us are only positive or only negative; your true character comes out depending upon the situation and that is what we are trying to show through this film. And one thing I can confidently say is that until the end you won’t know what is happening in the film." “I really loved watching thrillers, horror films, action, action-comedies since childhood. I feel I am somehow attracting these sorts of genres now. I watch a lot of Korean shows and I recently watched a Korean show called Stranger Than Heaven,” adds Patani, in an exclusive chat with Firstpost.

While the success of Ek Villain and the “meaty” role were major attractions for Patani to do the film, what also drew her towards the franchise was the way the director presents the female lead in his films which the actress had experienced in her earlier release, Malang, an action-thriller, also directed by Suri. “I did Malang with Mohit sir and I always wanted to do another film with him. He is a great director. He really focuses on the female lead and presents them with all their emotions. Then, I loved the character Rashika that I am playing. I really got lucky to be offered the second part,” says Patani.

Disclosing more about her character in Ek Villain Returns that hit the theatres on 29th July, the actress says she plays an extremely greedy girl, “She is this middle class girl who wants a lot from life and she is ready to do anything for that, she wants luxury, she wants money. She uses her charm over men to get what she wants.” However, it was a very difficult role to portray for many reasons, she says. “I say difficult because I have different shades and I didn’t know how to play till the time I was doing the scene. It is a little bit complicated, it was just hard to emote at that point, I didn’t know which way to go, which route to take. I was not sure if I would be able to pull it off but the director believed in me. Secondly, this is the first film I shot for during the pandemic, we were actually stuck in that whole situation. It was like very on and off, we started shooting but then we had to shut it because the second lockdown happened. Getting into the character, getting out of it and then getting into it again after a month or two that part was hard for me. We ended up shooting for one year and it feels like a very long time but now I am happy that finally it is coming out,” says Patani, who relies a lot on her instincts when it comes to selecting roles. “I follow my intuition, my instinct. That has helped me till now; I have come this far with my instincts. I also feel that girls have better instincts (smiles). But now I am thinking a little more about the choices that I am making. You spend almost a year working hard on a film so you better love it,” she smiles.

Patani has been paired with John Abraham for the first time and since they have a lot in common in terms of fitness, commitment towards workout routine and love for action, the actress says they bonded well. “I am a huge fan of John, I remember watching Dhoom when I was in school. His hair … everything was a rage at that point. He is a very supportive co-star. Then we have many things in common like fitness, action, diet…Every day at shoot he would ask me what I was eating, what was my diet for the day and he would also tell me his diet, so we used to share a lot of diet secrets. We never worked out together as we follow different workouts but it is nice to have someone who is also very dedicated towards physique, sports ...” she says. “My other co-actors Arjun and Tara are also so chilled. Tara and I have become buddies, it was a very comfortable environment to work in,” she adds.

Patani was last seen in digitally released Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, opposite Salman Khan. “We were hoping for a theatrical release but it was lovely. I went back to my hometown and met people there. I am from Bareilly and most of the people I met there loved Radhe. It doesn’t matter theatrical or OTT, people are still watching and that is what matters. It is a completely different experience, people going to a theatre and watching movies at home. But it is not that one is better than the other. But as an actor I had an OTT release for the first time and I feel love (of audience, fans) is the same, it doesn’t really change,” she says.

Popular for her svelte figure and someone who always manages to stand out with her looks and style, the Bareilly born actress says that she is perceived as glamorous. “Actually I am just a normal girl; I highly doubt that I am glamorous. I have played glamorous characters in only two films Malang and Radhe. It is just a perception and I am grateful that I have some sort of identity. There is nothing negative about it,” she says. But does this perception come in the way of the films and roles that she is offered? “No, not really. I see people coming to me and offering me different stuff. Actually more than filmmakers, the audiences have that perception. Filmmakers are open to artistes doing different things. I just want to play characters that people can relate to or at least I can relate to. If you are trying to say why I am not getting to play the main protagonist in films… I really don’t know why people don’t approach me with such roles but yes if I get a script that I love then maybe yes,” says Patani, who chose an unusual vehicle for her Bollywood debut — a small but significant role in MS Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016), with Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role.

Patani has a slew of projects lined up cashing in on her demand and popularity amidst the masses. She is paired opposite Sidharth Malhotra in Yodha, and she is part of Nag Ashwin’s Project K billed as a multilingual sci-fi film, alongside Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan. Patani, who made her debut in director Puri Jagannadh’s Telugu film Loafer opposite Varun Tej before switching to Bollywood while referring to the current craze for South films, says signing off, “I was always a huge fan of South films, especially of actor Allu Arjun. They are making something really different and I am hoping to watch Project K myself because it is going to be spectacular. For me, making choices has not changed because I have seen that side, I have done South films but now the audience is even more open and the whole market has opened up so people are witnessing the greatness of South Industry,” says Patani.

Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.