Sanjay Suri plays gigolo in ‘Anubhav’

MUMBAI - After playing a gay in “My Brother Nikhil”, Sanjay Suri now plays a gigolo in “Anubhav”, a film underlining that men are as vulnerable to sexual abuse as women in Bollywood. He says he loves doing diverse roles.

“I play a theatre actor in ‘Anubhav’ which narrates the tale of a young man whose life goes for a spin after some unfortunate incidents. He ends up becoming a male prostitute. So while he has been a sensitive man, a true lover and a loyal friend all this while, he turns into a someone that his close ones could never have imagined,” Sanjay told IANS.

Releasing Friday, the film also stars Jackie Shroff, Raj Zutshi, Meeta Vasisht, Sudha Chandran and Shruti Seth and is directed by National Award winning director Rajeev Nath.

“The film has many layers and talks about how life is not completely black or white. The character I play compromises in his quest of carving a niche for himself in Bollywood. Instead he ends up serving lonely widows and desperate housewives to make both ends meet,” said Sanjay.

That’s quite interesting as well as shocking, isn’t it?

“It is”, he quipped, “and that’s because the film challenges the basic assumption of to be or not to be! The guy tries to justify his acts and since he is a theatre actor, he also believes in this Shakespearean saying ‘Life is a stage and we are all actors in it’!”

Sexual exploitation of men was unheard of in Bollywood till recently.

The trend, however, has changed in the current decade with movies like “Aitraaz”, “Oops”, “Page 3″ and “Bas Ek Pal” showcasing men too as prey to sexual exploitation.

With “Anubhav”, Sanjay tries to follow his mantra of portraying diverse characters.

“This is what I really love to do actually. Whether it was my debut movie ‘Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi’ to ‘Jhankaar Beats’ to ‘Dhoop’ where I played the role of a military officer to ‘My Brother Nikhil’ where I played the character of an energetic youngster who contracts AIDS to ‘Bas Ek Pal’ to ‘Say Salaam India’, they have all been different.”