As much as I'd love to explore other genres, I won't leave comedy. This genre has given me an identity.
In the past, I think I was scared of showing myself. I thought people disliked me because I received so much hate when I was young. But as I grew older, I realized that there were people who disliked me and people who liked me. So I learned that there was no need for me to be so conscious of what others thought about me.
I wanted to do action, and it was a bit irritating when people called me a chocolate boy. I can do other films, too.
I initially moved to Bombay to work in the corporate space. After settling my family here in due course of time, I turned to acting which initially started off as a hobby that I wanted to pursue on the side and then became my profession to sustain my passion around five years back.
When I was a child, I wanted to... go into space! To go to Mars. I wanted to explore and explore and explore. I wanted to go to the Lost World in South America - I was heartbroken to discover there were no dinosaurs; I still don't accept it.
When I initially started acting, all I wanted to do was to be in one movie. That's it. That was my goal.
I'd be happy to be taken as a woman - and that's what I was initially trying to do when I started throwing on dresses and stuff. But that wasn't going to happen because everyone kept calling me sir. So I thought I'd change the method and just start wearing what I wanted to wear.
The stories that are out and the things that have been published are a sample of my interests. There are genres and sub-genres that I haven't waded into but have wanted to, or have waded into in other places but never actually written.
I wanted to be performer; like, I used to dance at weddings. I felt acting was my calling, and that is something I wanted to do.
Initially, I wanted to be a writer for other people. 'Hereditary,' I was writing it from a woman's perspective.
I think the buzz of acting is playing people different to you, and for me, that means traversing all genres.
The dramas for me allow me to explore more behavioral, deeper psychological things. But the comedies obviously allow me to explore the idea of really working off other people. I'm having more fun doing that.
It's interesting, the acting thing. I think it must be a deep sense of insecurity that made me want to explore other characters.
Historically, black music has influenced other cultures and other genres and created other genres.
When I first started my acting career, I only knew what my acting teacher taught me. When a director gave me an impromptu direction, I didn't know what he wanted me to do, and I wanted to escape from the place.
When I was a kid, Jacques Cousteau was my hero and the person who inspired me to become an underwater explorer. I have many other people who inspired me after him, but he is still my all-time hero.