Film makes loner out of Farhan Akhtar

MUMBAI - He is known to be gregarious and easily accessible, but Farhan Akhtar has suddenly gone into a shell. The reason is his latest acting assignment “Kartik Calling Kartik” - a film on a man lost in his own world.

“It was the nature of the character I was playing. He’s a guy lost in his world. So I was making an effort to isolate myself,” Farhan, who has teamed up with Deepika Padukone in the film, told IANS.

“Lately I’ve just been switching off from the world for the sake of my character. If you want to call it method acting, so be it,” said Farhan who switched off his phone and became almost inaccessible to the world outside.

Farhan, who made his acting debut with Abhishek Kapoor’s “Rock On!”, won’t be cast in the director’s second film. But he is not complaining.

“Gattu (Kapoor) has very specific ideas on whom he wants to cast. If he thinks I don’t fit any part, that’s fine. I’m just happy producing his film,” said Farhan. Ritesh Sidhwani is co-producing it.

Farhan also prepares to shoot “Don 2″. While his father Javed Akhtar had scripted part one - “Don - The Chase Begins Again”, the sequel has a different team of writers, including Farhan.

“The first film was my father’s vision. He had written the original ‘Don’ featuring Amitabh Bachchan. But ‘Don 2′ is being written by fans only. Two new enthusiastic boys, Ameet and Amreesh, came to me with their ideas on how the story can be carried forward. I’ve thrown my ideas at them. ‘Don 2′ is basically being written by three ‘Don’ fans who are having a ball carrying the story forward,” he said.

About the exclusion of his father, Farhan explained: “He cannot be a fan of ‘Don’ because he conceived it.”

Though he is excited about “Don 2″, Farhan has his heart set on his pet directorial project, “Voice From The Sky”, which got stalled by casting setbacks.

“It’s strange. No matter who it is, and no matter how big or small the director, everyone of us is facing casting problems. Finding the right actors has become a major problem. ‘Voice From The Sky’ did get delayed because I couldn’t find the right actor. But I know I’ll come back to it. And one day when you see it, you’ll realise why I had to make this film.”