SIDHARTH IS LEARNING TO PLAY THE CAJÓN
Sidharth Malhotra, who loves humming Kishore Kumar songs, is game for a musical
Actor Sidharth Malhotra is busy juggling a variety of roles in his upcoming films. In one, he will play a brawny Mumbai guy. In yet another, he will play a war hero. Even in his last outing, Jabariya Jodi, he had played a Bihari boy who runs a kidnapping syndicate.
But that’s not all. Amid all these work commitments, he still finds time to take online music lessons. And we have learnt that he is learning to play the cajón, which is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru that is liberally used in Afro-Peruvian and Spanish music scene.
The 34-year-old says, “I was gifted an instrument called the cajón sometime back. I am trying to take online lessons for it. I get less time to play it due to my work schedule... But if I get the time to learn it properly, maybe I will put up a video on social media someday, and share it with everyone.”
That the actor has a musical bent of mind is no secret. In A Gentleman (2017), he had showcased his rapping skills. And he doesn’t entirely dismiss the idea of playback singing in the future. “I do like humming. I am a big Kishore Kumar fan and love singing his songs. I feel if there is a script where my character in the film would need me to lend my voice, I’d happily attempt it, and try my hand at a musical maybe. We (Hindi cinema) used to do that in the past. Maybe that will be interesting,” he says. But the audience will have to wait to hear Sid singing in a film.
Meanwhile, the actor is excited about what’s in the pipeline. “In Marjaavaan, my character is a Mumbai guy who is strong and more muscular. It’s an out-and-out an action-love story. Then, there is Shershaah, where I will be seen playing Captain Vikram Batra (army officer who was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his bravery during the 1999 Kargil war),” he says.
The actor doesn’t want to limit his versatility. He adds, “The idea is to essay interesting characters, who belong to different worlds, and yet connect with the audience. It’s about not restricting yourself as an actor, and being open to challenging material.”