Ready to seize the day

Enthu cutlets Prateek, Sharad, Bidita and Karan. Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar

F rom Sydney With Love, directed by Prateek Chakravorty, tells a simple story of hope, love and dreams. The film features debutants Bidita Bag, Sharad Malhotra and Karan Sagoo. Bidita, who plays Meghaa Banerjee, a small town girl, goes to Sydney on a scholarship to study management.

There she meets and falls in love with Rohit Khurana, played by Sharad Malhotra. There always has to be a villain of the piece, and Suhail Syed, (Karan Sagoo), embodies this character.

Prateek, the grandson of director-producer Pramod Chakravorty, at a recently-held press conference in the city, said he “hopes the audience will appreciate the content of a film rather than its star value.” He said he doesn’t want to take his grandfather’s legacy for granted. “My grandfather has directed some amazing films, most of which were blockbusters. I need to work harder to prove my worth.”

Besides directing, Prateek has written, produced and acted in the film. He jokes and calls himself “i-pod” for the multiple roles he has played. Acting happened by chance. “I wasn’t planning to cast myself, but I fit the character well.”

Sharad, Karan and Bidita, who were also present at the press conference, were a smiling lot, eagerly looking forward to the release of their film.

Sharad, who acted in the tele-serial

Main Teri Dulhann , says the transition from the small screen to films wasn’t easy. “In films, you have to give your best to every character. My experience in acting in serials helped, but I drove myself to be perfect in every shot. I grew more confident with each passing day,” says the graduate of the New York Film Academy. Sharad says Rohit is very close to his real-life persona. “Rohit is a Delhi boy, who is carefree and loves to dance and sing. There’s 80 per cent of Sharad in the character,” says the trained kick-boxer, horse rider and Salsa and Bollywood dancer.

Karan’s urge to act was so strong that he quit his career in IT to pursue it full time. “I did a lot of theatre in London, where I grew up. I worked for a few years but when I came to India, I realised that I wanted to be an actor.” Karan found it easy to make a foray into films due to the offers he received for modelling and acting in cameos in Bollywood. He says that acting in films is a different ball game altogether. “Even though I have done theatre, acting in films is very different. One has to be aware of technicalities that come with acting for films.” Karan, like his co-stars, is all praise for Prateek. “He gave us a lot freedom and I admire him for his vision.”

For Bidita, a well-known Bengali film actress, From Sydney With Love is her first Hindi film. She is happy that she has bagged a woman-centric role and looks forward to the film’s release. “I have been at the centre of a lot of controversies, but I have got where I am through hard work without comprising on my principles.” From Sydney With Love, a Pramod films production,will release on August 31 across India.