‘My sister is a 4 am friend’

Manpriya Singh 

Actor Saqib Saleem’s twitter profile reads ‘Side profile actor, full time cricket lover and a bathroom rapper.’ While we know of his acting graph and his association with non-professional men’s cricket league in India, his musical inclinations are quite unheard of. 

Perhaps, he’d like to step out of the bathroom someday. He laughs, “The day I sing, people will stop believing in music. I can remember the lengthiest of monologues but I have a problem remembering lyrics, hence the practice of making up my own lyrics in the privacy of my bathroom.” What he is more than willing to talk about at length is his up and coming film Dil Junglee; a very contemporary love story. 

Delhi boy

“I play a gym trainer, a boy from Lajpat Nagar in Delhi, who has aspirations of becoming a hero.” Now how similar could the character be to him? “I grew up in Lajpat Nagar, I love going to the gym and I have acted in films,” he laughs, saying how he thought to himself! “I’d be stupid if I let go of this character. It’s a very real love story where our definition of love and idea changes with time and age.” 

More to come

The film was a welcome change anyway, after his previous two intense outings —Bombay Talkies and Hawa Hawaai. As for his debut, it was seven years ago that Mujhse Fraandship Karoge was out. Despite the accolades and nomination, the typical mainstream success in typical Bollywood way didn’t quite pour in. “I am happy with my growth as an actor, but I am not content. I was too young when I started out, people actually asked me to grow up before I joined the industry. It took me first two years to even find my bearings.” Now that he has, he is raring to go. 

On sister Huma 

We are like any other siblings. When we get together, we talk, we fight, we watch movies…after shifting base to Mumbai, we grew even closer to each other. She is my 4 am friend, not because she is from the industry but because she is my sister.  

Bollywood to an outsider 

It has been a very welcoming industry. All the people I have worked, my co-stars are my friends, we have always shared a very friendly equation but having said that, I don’t have friends from the industry, in the sense nobody is my 4am friend! 

Ensemble cast & Race 3

While he is tightlipped about his character or even the movie Race 3, there is something he’d like to say about sharing screen space with Salman Khan and Anil Kapoor. “I was in college when I saw Race 1, never thought I’d be a part of Race 3. It’s a great opportunity, but there is also a responsibility to make my character work. The entire team eats together and works like a close-knit family. I get so much of love on the sets. I get to see the likes of Anil Kapoor; he is always rehearsing his lines. Hearing Salman Khan, his journey and how he made it…is so inspiring.”