A new avatar for Maniesh
The happy-go-lucky Maniesh Paul is all set to reveal a side of him no one has seen before. His latest short film, Black Briefcase, has a role contrasting to his usual jovial personality, one that was hard to settle into according to the actor. “It’s my first short film and it’s a film which has no dialogues. It’s very different from my usual appearances, it’s intense and dark,” says Maniesh, who plays a terrorist in the film.
To prepare for his role, Maniesh had to take some rather extreme measures. “I wasn’t talking to anybody for a week to prepare for the character. Even on the sets, I was trying to be aloof and wasn’t interacting with anybody. I would just finish my scene and go sit somewhere alone,” says Maniesh. “I didn’t sleep properly for five days, I was taking small naps whenever I could so that I would look tired to fit the part. I didn’t even take a shower for three days! I wanted to look and feel dirty,’ he adds.
Talking about why he took up the project, the actor says, “I wanted to do something different. Holding the screen for 17 minutes without any dialogues is not easy. The biggest compliment I got from someone was that, ‘I didn’t see Maniesh Paul in this film’, they saw a completely different side of me.” 2018 proves to be a great year for Maniesh as his on-going show Indian Idol is doing great and he also accompanied Salman Khan on the Da-Bangg tour and got to interact with his international fans. “Salman sir and I share a great rapport. I have been hosting the Da-Bangg tour for a year now and it was a houseful this time. I got a lot of love, I met so many people who came up to me and hugged me and I’m looking forward to the next round now,” says the actor.
I wanted to do something different. Holding the screen for 17 minutes without any dialogues is not easy.
MANIESH PAUL, ACTOR