Good looking model turned actor Rajneesh Duggal talks about his two about-to-be released films -- Beiimaan Love (with Sunny Leone) and a suspense-horror film Saansein (with TV star Sonarika Bhadoria.)
After your debut in the successful 1920 (2008), Saansein is your second true horror film ... what took you so long to return to the genre?
I got a lot of offers after 1920 and I took up a lot of suspense-thrillers but I was not finding a good script for a horror film that could match up to 1920. When director Rajiv Ruia and producer Vivek Agarwal came to me with the script of Saansein, I was really tempted as it is a very interesting subject but at the same time I was very sceptical and I told them that I am not very keen on a horror film. But when they made a few changes in the script, it became irresistible. The story went up to the level of — or maybe above — 1920.
What is different about Saansein?
I can’t really tell you the whole story but this film is also romantic. I play the knight in shining armour.
But recent horror films like Raaz Reboot and Alone haven’t worked. Why do you think that is so?
My mentor Vikram Bhatt has made Raaz Reboot and obviously I have heard a lot about it but I haven’t seen the film so I cannot comment on it, Saansein is unique in its story and climax so you can’t really compare it to any other film. It’s a full-fledged commercial film which the audience will love.
Why is it that Vikram Bhatt and you have not worked together recently? He just cast you in a song for Creature 3D.
With Vikram Bhatt I have done 1920, Phhir; and Dangerous Ishq which was with Karisma Kapoor. After that we have been talking but nothing has been finalised. With the music video I broke a barrier because before that I had never done such scenes before. I did it for him and T-series.
Have you seen Sonarika Bhadoria’s TV work before she was signed on for this film?
I had seen a few episodes of Devon Ke Dev Mahadev but not her work. I was just told that Sonarika has been cast and then Hiten Tejwani came on board. The cast seemed interesting.
You have another release coming up in Beiimaan Love which is your second film with Sunny Leone after Leela. How different was the shooting experience this time around?
Leela was a period film and I came in the section of the film that was set 300 years ago in the deserts of Rajasthan. So that was a different love story while Beiimaan Love is 2016’s story set in Mumbai. It’s a completely different feel. Working with Sunny is good. It’s like working with a professional actor.
Has she improved as an actress?
I am no one to comment on that. You should ask the director about it.
Is it true that Sunny Leone is not promoting the film enough?
As of now, both Sunny and I don’t have the dates to promote Beiimaan Love. She is shooting and I am at the middle of shooting Saansein. I wish that I could give more time to promote Beiimaan Love because its release date is drawing close; but I am giving it time whenever possible. This has happened because there was a date issue. This is my side of the story; I don’t know what the other side is.