Can you tell us about The Stoneman?

I will not tell you who is stoneman. The film is based on a very factual incident and the director, Manish Gupta has done a lot of research and whatever is fictionalized in the film has been taken from facts and everything is presented in a very authentic way. I play a suspended police officer while Arbaaz plays the investigating officer and the case is of The Stoneman. Who is stoneman and how it happens is all shown in the film.

If you talk about Stoneman, in your childhood, you would come across such stories related to the actual incident. Do have any re collection and would like to share some light on it?

I remember in my childhood there as news that had spread in Bombay about Stoneman and that you should not step out of the house in the night as these incidents use to happen on the footpath, so I do have very faint memory of these things. Almost after 26 years now the film is being made, I realized while filming that Manish Gupta has researched so deep that there are so many such facts that you will not believe it.

The film is considered to be shot in a very a realistic manner. So what do you think is the role of music in the film especially the item song which looks like forced in the film.

There is no item number in the film. There is just one scene in the bar where there is a song in the background. It is not like the song has been portrayed separately as an item number. It is a scene which happens in the front while the song is being performed in the background. It is like you going in a bar and talking while the song is being played in the background. That's how it is in the film.

If you see your past few films, you have played characters with a slight darker shades. Would you like to continue with that or would you like to bring about a change in your roles for forthcoming films?

In 'Honeymoon Travels' I did not play a negative character and so in 'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'. There are a lot of films in which I do not play a negative character. In every film I am a person and I try to portray that person in the film then whether it is good or bad. People only see one thing, either negative or positive. People are not only negative or positive in their life.

How was it working with Arbaaz Khan in the film?

I really enjoyed working with Arbaaz, Vikram Gokhale and Viren Saxena in the film. They are very experienced actors and it was really fun and owing to the nature and the subject of the film, it was a good experience.

According to you what woud be the U.S.P. of the film?

For the Unique Selling Proposition (U.S.P.) of the film, you should ask the marketing team of the film. As far as I know, creatively, it is a very good film. The film will never seem to you fake. All the things are authentic in the film. If you have to show the year of 1983, you know how difficult it is. In that year there were only Fiat and Ambasador cars on the road, there were not foothpath like today, there were no street lamps like you find today, no mobile phones, etc, so it was difficult to create that time.

The director, Manish Gupta had told you during the filming of 'Sarkar' that he wanted to cast you in his first film. Did your casting in this film was based on that discussion?

While making 'Sarkar', Manish had told me that when he would make his first film, he would like to have me in it and I told him that I would definitely do so. So when the script of 'The Stoneman Murders' came to me, I found that the script was very beautifully written. You come to know the caliber of a director and how creative he is depending on how he writes the fiction part of the film where the film is based on an event or facts. The way Manish has written the script taking into consideration the fictional aspect, I thought it would be great to attempt this film.

How was your experience working with Manish Gupta, who had been a writer in 'Sarkar' and now a director in 'The Stoneman Murders'?

Manish has a lot of energy in him. He has a very high pitch voice and he never talks in a lower pitch (smiles). Most of the film was shot in the night, so you definitely needed a director like Manish with a high pitch voice to keep you awake in the nights.

What are your upcoming projects?

My upcoming projects include 'Sanket City', a comic genre, 'Aage Se Right', a UTV Productions which is also a comic genre, then another film I am doing with John Abraham 'Hook Ya Crook' directed by David Dhawan. These are the 3 in the pipelines as of now.