by Shaheen Raaj

Ashmit Patel happens to be a cool and chilled out dude. He is an unassuming guy who is sensible enough to take, everything in his stride, with a pinch of salt. Yes! Even the ups and downs, more downs than ups, in his professional career as well as his personal life. Yet what makes him most happy is the fact that he goes to bed and even wakes up from it with a contented smile on his countenance. In his decade long checkered and illustrious career he may have done films that can be counted on his own fingertips, but he has no regrets whatsoever as he firmly and strongly feel and believe that his “Best” is yet to come. From his debut film ‘Inteha’ to his, this year’s release, ‘Jai Ho’ he has had an interestingly impressive line up of movies. And now he is ready to spring a surprise with a cop’s role in a Horror flick named ‘Home Stay-Stay Alive’, whose impending release is just round the corner.

To set the ball rolling in your court how would you describe your film journey till this date?

I would say that it was interesting enough. No doubt I too had my own ups and downs, in my case more downs than ups. But at the end of the day I feel blessed that with every night’s fall, I go to bed with a smile on my face and then again with the rise of the day I wake up, again with a smile on my face. Yet I have no regrets whatsoever as I firmly and strongly feel and believe that my “Best” is yet to come. That apart I am also aware that every actor cannot be an Aamir Khan, a Salman Khan or even a Shahrukh Khan.

Your upcoming film is ‘Home Stay-Stay Alive’. So tell us what is it all about?

It happens to be the story of a girl who goes to Coorg to surprise her fiance. Out there she is put up in Home Stay, which is like a rented service apartment, a kind of guest house for a paying guest. In a span of 24 hours, varied spooky incidents take place including a murder.

What kind of character are you enacting in ‘Home Stay-Stay Alive’?

I am enacting the role of a cop. My 1st uniformed role. I had earlier played the role of a cop in ‘Nazar’, but I was a plain clothes CID officer. So I am happy that I have finally got my share of a cop’s Stars and Stripes including a cop’s uniform in ‘Home Stay-Stay Alive’. And believe me it feels great to be attired in a cop’s uniform. Anyways coming to the cop’s role, he is very forthright and well respected. He does not mince words and puts everyone at ease by giving a good reasoning in a logical manner, especially the way he handles the members of the fourth estate during a murder investigation.

How was the experience of shooting in Coorg with Sayali Bhagat & débutante director Santosh Kodenkeri?

Must say it was great fun. We used to shoot for half a day, in spite of the film being shot in the trilingual language of Hindi, Kannada and Tamil, and the rest of the day used to be spent in exploring every nook and corner of Coorg. And then it used to be party time at night. As for Sayali Bhagat I hardly knew her except for meeting her socially 2 or 3 times but once we met on the sets we developed a good rapport. And as this was the 1st film of my director Santosh Kodenkeri, I found him to be very humble and down to earth and it was great fun working with him. I must make a special mention of Ravi Kale who is playing a negative role in ‘Home Stay-Stay Alive’. He is just fantastically fabulous.

What according to you are the highlights of ‘Home Stay-Stay Alive’?

I think it is the script, the thrills, the technically sound background score and of course this movie can be rated highest on the performance level of all the artistes including me.

So what’s up next on your professional front?

There are a couple of projects on the anvil but as of now I am very high on a particularly new project, a high octane action drama, for which nowadays I am sporting a heavily bearded look. I can’t reveal anything more about it, no not even the title, because of the strict non-disclosure condition of the contract. Period!