Actor Akshay Oberoi chats with Divya Kaushik about spending nights in the graveyard to prepare himself for the lead role in Pizza
You will find less actors like him in Bollywood. He would rather be a part of any theatre production than acting in some potboilers. Akshay Oberoi is very clear about his choices when it comes to films and this is one reason why we have seen him in selected projects. He featured in Bijoy Nambiar’s MTV series Rush and the motive of being associated with it was to impress the producer, director. The trick worked and Akshay bagged the lead role in Nambiar’s forthcoming 3D thriller Pizza. He plays a pizza delivery boy and to prepare for the role he interacted with pizza delivery boys to understand the pressure of their jobs, delivered pizzas himself and the most difficult one was to stay in the graveyards. He says, “When I was offered the film I only knew that it is a thriller. I watched the original Tamil version and was completely bowled over by the intensity of fear that is portrayed on screen. It is all done through eyes and face expressions. I wanted to understand that fear as in real life I never had any spooky experience. I visited the graveyards in the wee hours, it is said to be the time of the spirits to come out. I did that continuously for days and though nothing eerie happened, I started to psychologically feel that there is someone around. It was then that I could understand the situation of the guy who is trapped in the haunted house. This graveyard experience really helped and while I was shooting I used to imagine myself in the graveyard.”
Akshay’s choices for offbeat, new-age stories can be attributed to his early education and training. He pursued a bachelor’s degree in theater arts and economics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He also completed acting training in Stella Adler in New York City and then Playhouse West in los Angeles, where he learned the Meisner technique. During his education, he studied acting under John Astin. “He was the one who directed me to go to Stella. He gave me a lot of guidance about not only performance on screen and facing the camera but about the subjects that one should go for and how different subjects chosen by the actor defines his personality. I always wanted to be an actor, but as I grew up and was trained in acting I realised that there is no point in being part of the herd. I am lucky that I am trying to establish myself in Bollywood in an era where boundaries between commercial and parallel are diminishing. Even mainstream directors are now exploring different kind of stories and are willing to give a chance to young actors. Big studios are now open to put money on films which do not have stars. I am on a look out for more new-age, out-of-the-box stories that cater to the evolved taste of the audience,” adds Akshay, who realises it won’t be a cakewalk for him in the industry to achieve success with defined choices, but he is hoping for the best. At present, he is auditioning for more roles and is continuing with theatre. “I have a lot to keep myself busy. I am also a trained dancer. I studied movements in lA and I try to use all this to improve my acting skills,” he ends.