Shashank Khaitan’s Badrinath Ki Dulhania has climbed the ladder of success. Along with Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, another actor to stand out was Sahil Vaid, who played Badri’s best friend, Somdev. He was also seen as Varun’s close buddy in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, although the character was hugely different.
Sahil will now be seen in Nandita Das’ Manto, the biopic on the late writer and author, Saadat Hasan Manto. Interestingly, he will be playing the character of filmmaker K Asif, who is known for making the magnum opus, Mughal-e-Azam (1960). He revealed the news exclusively to Cinestaan.com during an interaction.
Sahil said, “I am doing Nandita Das’ Manto. It is a very acting oriented film. It will be fun. Haven’t done such acting since long. I am playing K Asif, who directed Mughal-E-Azam.”
He revealed more about Asif’s equation with Manto. “He had a love-hate type relation with Manto. I am preparing for the role right now. Although the role isn’t lengthy, one has to prepare well. Just because you have four scenes doesn’t mean you prepare only for four days. K Asif was from Etawah (in Uttar Pradesh). After catching Jhansi accent (in Badrinath Ki Dulhania), I will now catch Etawah accent.”
The preparation for the role includes spending quality time with veteran artist, Naseeruddin Shah. “These days I am meeting all those who have actually met K Asif. My guru Naseeruddin Shah has also met him. I keep asking him numerous times as to how K Asif used to speak. And he obliges just like he is my taya (uncle). Just recently we spoke about K Asif for three hours where he shared details about him,” Sahil said.
Manto has Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing the titular role. The film also stars Chandan Roy Sanyal.