Director Akashdeep plays a director in Tigmanshu Dhulia's Milan Talkies

Actor-director Akashdeep has joined the cast of filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia’s upcoming film Milan Talkies. Spilling some beans on his role in the movie, he says. “I am playing the role of a film director, who is fed up with trying to film in a small town in UP. So, it was rather easy playing a film director as it came naturally to me. There is a bit where I keep screaming at Ali Fazal, the hero, which was different. It is very difficult for me to get angry with anyone,” he says.

Ask him how was it to be directed by Tigmanshu, and he says, “Very easy! I have known Tishu for many years now. And in any case, being a director myself, I know the drill, so I’m chilled out. I try and get a proper brief from the director so I can prepare for the role. If I feel I can add a line or so I take permission. And I’ve noticed that directors refrain from directing other directors when they are acting because they too are aware that the person is a director and so knows the finer details.”

Akashdeep was last part of the show Karamchand. He has done theatre also. “My last acting assignment was for a TV show called Karamchand, the series by Pankaj Parasher on Doordarshan. And I was doing Nayi Dishayein for Viveck Vaswani. In theatre, my last play was Titali adapted from Butterflies are Free by Alyque Padamsee and starring Sharon Prabhakar."

As for films, Akashdeep has done a few in the past. “In films, I was part of the Rajshri film Babul directed by Govind Moonis, who had earlier directed Nadiya Ke Paar,” he says.

Talking about the kind of roles he wants to take up, the director says, “I love doing serious roles although I recently got an offer to play a rich fat 50-Year-old Panju. I would obviously want to do roles for successful directors who can take my performance to another level. In the past, I have been awarded India inter college best actor, but my first inning in acting did not go off well. This time I want to be careful. Each film should be better than the other and gradually it will make me realise my full potential.”