Don’t freak out

Manika Ahuja

Virtue triumphs over evil. Period. That is what The Ramayana has ingrained in all us Indians, and that is what sets each one of us smiling as we swarm out of the cinema hall, till date. And God forbid, if the antagonist emerges victorious over the ‘hero with a halo’, we collectively tend to dismiss it as a movie with a sting in the tale.

“Of course. That is exactly what happens. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that all of us are obsessed with the ‘good has to win over evil’ notion. Raavan can be as powerful as one possibly can be, but he still has to be beaten to pulp by Lord Ram in the end. We are a hero-centric nation,” chuckles actor-model Jas Arora, all set to make his villainous presence felt with upcoming Bollywood movie—Freaky Ali, alongside actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Amy Jackson and Arbaaz Khan.

Bad villain equals good hero

The Delhi-based actor, who bedazzled many with his dashing looks, and his hard-to-be-missed chemistry with Malaika Arora Khan in the popular music video of Punjabi song—Gur Naalo Ishq Mitha avers that just like avid comedians hold actor Johnny Lever in great esteem, “most of the on-screen ‘baddies’ revere Amjad Khan and Amrish Puri. The pitch of their voices and powerful expressions can find no match till date.” He pauses for a second and resumes rather wistfully, “People need to realise that without a monstrous negative character, there will be no value of the hero. Ergo, there is always a bad villain behind a good hero!”

Nobody like Nawaz

Arora informs that the family entertainer, Freaky Ali, primarily traces the rags to riches story of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who plays the titular character in the movie. He goes on to admit his admiration for the character artiste, “Nawaz Bhai is an actor par excellence. Who would not want to work with him?”

The witty actor does not forget dropping a word about the film’s leading lady, Amy Jackson, either, “She is a very sweet and simple girl. Thanks to the instant on-screen chemistry between Nawaz Bhai, Amy and I, we managed to wrap up the film’s shooting schedule in a record 38 days’ time span.”

Suit up, boys

While everyone knows about women’s undying love for accessories, “men still need to brush off their inhibitions associated with accessories. There is nothing wrong in males sporting some bling,” observes the passionate fashion designer, who styled Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Cannes appearance for the film Raman Raghav 2.0.

Arora clarifies, “By bling, the implication is not in the least for males to head out wearing a 20 tola gold chain around their neck. But I fail to see what stops them from donning a sleek chain atop a crisp pair of white shirt for semi-formal or formal appearances.”