Nikhil Dwivedi denies baring all for ‘Raavan’

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NEW DELHI - Two-film-old Nikhil Dwivedi has shunned rumours that he bared all in the forthcoming movie “Raavan” as “only speculations”.

“No, I did not have to do anything of that sort,” said Nikhil on the peeling off rumours. “They are only speculations. Somethings should be left for the audiences to wait and watch in the film and then understand it,” the actor told IANS in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.

Rumours mills were agog that the 27-year-old did not just shed his hair to sport a shaven look for the Mani Ratnam thriller releasing June 18.

“The bald look is for a particular sequence. Yes, I have gone bald for the movie but for a particular sequence and not for the entire film.

“I play a young, honest, upright police officer who feels that he can use the uniform and the authority given to him to ensure that good prevails over evil and right wins over wrong.

“So I had to look like a cop… I gained about five kg for the role… Mani Ratnam believes in real kind of cinema and he wanted a hefty person as small town cops look like that. I also had to cut my hair very short, grew a moustache and try to work on my body language,” he said.

Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Tamil superstar Vikram play main leads in “Raavan”.

Asked about his camaraderie with his co-stars, he said: “My co-actors were absolutely wonderful. I was virtually a newcomer while these people have been there for decades and at the top.”

Talking about Ratnam, he said: “Every actor’s biggest dream is to work under the baton of Mani Ratnam and I was fortunate enough to get that so early in my career. Mani sir is a stalwart. He deserves an absolute respect. I am going to take a lot of my learning from the sets of ‘Raavan’ to my other films,” said the actor.

A qualified MBA, Nikhil was a corporate executive at Videocon before making his debut in Bollywood with Shah Rukh Khan’s production “My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves” in 2008. After that he signed “Khalbali - Fun Unlimited”, but the film could not release due to the Mumbai terror attacks.

Apart from “Raavan”, Nikhil also has a healthy line-up of other movies in hand like “Shor”, Abhay Deol’s debut home production “Basra”, “Matric Pass” and a remake of Sunny Deol starrer 1985 hit “Arjun”.

“I am working very hard on all of them. I leave the rest on god and the audiences of this country,” he said.