New Delhi, Apr 2 : Actor Arunoday Singh, who has been tapped to play one of the two male leads in “Jism 2”, says the film is a marketing genius.
Be it producer Mahesh Bhatt's entry into the ‘Bigg Boss' house to offer the lead role to adult film star Sunny Leone or the nude promotional pictures, ever since its announcement the film has been grabbing eyeballs.
And Arunoday says it will work in the favour of the film. “The film is a marketing genius. Every move by the makers is very smart and that is the reason the film was being talked about so much even before it went on floors. Now, it is up to us to pull it off,” Arunoday told PTI.
The 28-year-old actor, who alongwith actor Randeep Hooda will play Leone's love interest in the sequel to the John-Bipasha starrer, was all praises for his female co-star. “She (Sunny) is very beautiful.
I don't judge anyone by the work the person has done in the past. She may be a porn star but ‘Jism 2' is not a porn film. People should keep that in mind,” said the actor.
Asked if the attention showered on the leading lady bothers him, he said, “I have no problems with the fact that the focus is on Sunny. I care only about my work. I care about my role. I don't care who they cast, how they make it, how they promote it. My job is to act.”
Arunoday, who was the first one to be signed on for Madhur Bhandarkar's ambitious film “Heroine”, was booted out of the film after actress Aishwarya Rai was replaced by Kareena Kapoor. He says he still does not know the real reason behind the move.
“I don't know what went wrong with Heroine. I was even paid for it. I was supposed to play a much younger man romancing an older woman (played by Aishwarya) but I guess with the change in cast they had to change the story line. They wanted someone of the same age and so I was replaced. “I don't resent it.
It did linger in my mind for sometime but I got over it. If a director needs me, I will be there, if not then it's fine. I don't take it as a setback.
Madhur is a nice guy and we meet up a lot. He has to make a great film and so he took the call. He was just doing his job.”
Arunoday made his debut with “Sikandar” in 2009 playing a Kashmiri terrorist. He also acted in films like “Aisha” and “Mirch”. In 2011, he starred in director Sudhir Mishra's “Yeh Saali Zindagi” which earned him accolades. “'Yeh Saali Zindagi' changed my life.
I am working with Sudhir again. If he makes a big film and doesn't ask me, I understand. In a big project the director has to cast a star in order to justify the budget,” said the actor, who was in the Capital last night to receive an Anti-Kela award for his role in “Yeh Saali Zindagi”.
Arunoday also said that he does not have a lot of projects at present but is happy that directors are taking notice of him.
“I don't have an ocean of film choices before me. I have very few scripts to chose from. The industry is like a huge pie and I get to have only a piece of it. But hopefully I will get a chance to do great work. Things have already started looking up,” he added.
The actor, who is the grandson of late Congress politician Arjun Singh, said that he did not have a easy road to Bollywood as he was not a star kid. “The industry is full of star kids, who know the directors and producers as uncles and aunties. It was difficult for me as I was an outsider who has no filmy back ground.
For them I was no one. I had to go through several rounds of auditions. They (star kids) don't get more work, they just get more opportunities. There are always producers and directors who are willing to put their money on them.
“Getting into the door is difficult. But once you are in, the only thing that counts is your work. Even they have to prove their mettle once they are in the field,” he said.
The actor will be next seen in an independent film “Ek Bura Aadmi” directed by Ishraq Shah, which also stars Kitu Gidwani and Raghuvir Yadav.
“The film's shooting is done. It is an independent film and we are having trouble finding a distributor,” he said.
