I DO NOT draw my inspiration from Ranveer Singh or anybody else, says Sahil Salathia | Exclusive

The actor was in an exclusive conversation with OTTplay

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Actor Sahil Salathia had made his acting debut in Ashutosh Gowariker 's critically acclaimed series ‘Everest’. For the unversed, Sahil played the role of the extremely layered character of the much- celebrated mountaineer Arjun Sabharwal. What followed after that was Nikkhil Advani’s ‘P.O.W.- Bandi Yuddh Ke’, and ‘Hasmukh’. All of this led to Sahil’s Bollywood film debut with Ashutosh Gowarikar's ‘Panipat’. Post that, Sahil was also seen in web series like ‘Paurashpur’ and ‘Kaun Banegi Shikharwati’.

OTTplay caught up with the actor for an exclusive interview. Here are the excerpts:

Sahil, to start with, while you have been hugely appreciated and admired for your fashion sense, you also receive brickbats for the same for being too experimental and edgy. How do you react to that?
To be honest, I feel anybody who is going to try anything unique or be true to his or her personality or authentic, will definitely have a positive and somewhat negative response as well. We all have always been told to be ‘as per the society norms’ dress like how other people dress, try to fit in, don’t try to make too much of an impact… even if it comes genuinely. So, I think it’s fine and I take it with a pinch of salt. I get so much love that sometimes I don’t even have the time or bandwidth to look at the negativity that comes along with it. The love is so much wider and I think it’s so vast that I get from the audience, viewers and the people that it’s just all good and it makes me feel grateful.

Where does the inspiration to your style quotient come from?
I don’t take a lot of pressure. I just stick to my authentic self and everything else falls along. The inspiration is everywhere, and I am very mood-driven. Sometimes, I just rock a plain white T shirt and jeans and make it my own version. Sometimes, I will go all out and be very flamboyant! I take inspiration from the smallest things, like people around me, my family members, my grandfather, my nanaji was very stylish as he was in the army.

Don’t you get scared of being too experimental and run the risk of getting massively trolled for your looks?
I am very experimental, not just with fashion but even with the roles I have taken. Be it the show ‘Paurashpur’, that I did for ZEE5 was a gender-fluid role, I tried being experimental. Looking back, I started my career with Ashutosh Gowariker sir in ‘Everest’ as the protagonist. In ‘POW’ with Nikhil Advani sir, I was a terrorist, I grew my beard and became a different guy. I think it’s just in my personality. I like to take chances and risks, but I stay authentic at the same time. I do get trolled sometimes. There is a lot of hate also that comes along with love. I never really overthink.

In spite of getting trolled sometimes, what one observes is that you are open to opinions as well.
Most definitely, even if I do get trolled sometimes, I am definitely open to opinions. In fact, I take it very constructively. And I think that makes you grow more as a human, even if it comes to your roles that you take, your fashion or even one’s personality. I think it’s very good to be open to all sorts of opinions because this is a free world and democracy and we all have to have an opinion. At the same time, we should not force our opinion on somebody else.

How does it feel when your fashion sense gets compared with Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh?
I do hear it a lot that my fashion sense gets compared to Ranveer Singh. He is a phenomenal actor and a superstar. You can see that in his personality, the way he dresses and the roles he takes up. It’s not rocket science to say how brilliant he is on screen. So of course, I take it as a compliment but at the same time, it’s not true. I do not draw my inspiration from Ranveer Singh or anybody else for that matter. I just stay true to my authentic self and I just have fun with it. I have my own journey.

A little birdie just told us that, you are also an avid traveller and had recently been to London and stayed there for over a month. How was your experience?
I was in London for about 40 days for a spring break. It was great but, trust me when I tell you that, there is no place in the world like our Mumbai. The weather there was horrible as there are 4 seasons a day and you can never prepare yourself for summer, spring or winter. Sometimes it’s raining, sometimes it’s sunny. But it’s a good city with good food and I had a great time. Sometimes it’s important to go to a new place, experience the new culture, meet new people and just enrich yourself as a human being.

What’s happening on the professional front? Tell us something about your projects releasing this year?
On the acting front, I have just finished two series – ‘Adhura’ which is a great story, ensemble cast of a bunch of friends going back to their boarding school. It’s a great script and absolutely loved being a part of it. It’s directed by Gaurav Chawla and Ananya Banerjee. Gaurav had made ‘Bazaar’ before this. It was a great experience; we had shot in Ooty and different parts of the country. I just cannot wait for everybody to watch it. The other show I have done is with Viacom and they will make the announcement very soon. I am very excited for the audience to see it as they are both massive shows.

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