 The blue and the white and the grey are ready. We are ready. We are ready. Hey, welcome back. We are here with AK from the new film Berlin at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Thank you so much for joining us. I am with Rick and Corbin. Hi guys, how's it going? That's fantastic. Yes, we... I like him. I like him already. Good night everybody. Good night. Hey, what's up? Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. We have seen Berlin now in as well as multiple of your other projects. And we loved the film. I want to talk about the film first, obviously. What drew you as an actor to this project? So, most of my films back in the day in India were majorly about comedy. Most of my films in the first six years of my life were only comedy and nothing serious. You know what happens is that sometimes people are not able to see you in a certain light once they see you back to back doing comedy or any particular genre. So, A, I was looking for something which is absolutely different. B, this had the space where I could mellow myself down, get rid of the loud Punjabi in me, what we were talking about before we rolled the camera. And also, I mean, it's, you know, the start of the film. I'm the sign language interpreter. You can see I'm teaching the kids, you know. So, it's something which is very, very new to my system, new to my craft. I had never, I had picked up various dialects, various languages of different parts of the country, but not this. So, I think this was something which really drew me. Apart from that, I think the writer and the director, Atul Sabarwal, he has a knack of bringing the other side of you as an actor. So, I think these are the two, three things which really attracted me toward this world. The film is, we don't say this unless we mean it. The film is, in our opinion, absolutely fantastic. Thank you, so sweet. I did a lot. I did a lot. But truly, every frame of film, and you just said that this was obviously a new craft for you. What was the process for you in creating this character? Did you begin with ISL and how long did you take with that as well? So, ISL, which means Indian Sign Languages, guys. So, Indian Sign Language has really grown in terms of the overall teaching as well. And they've had new words and the way of expressing themselves. There are various schools now. People take them very seriously. The government takes them very seriously. So, I went to a very cool school in Bombay itself, Mumbai, to meet all these kids. And they were damn sweet. I played cricket with them, had lunches with them, spent time with them to understand their process. So, I think that's where things became very easy. It just became a part of our system then. So, yeah. As an actor, especially with a role like this that you can really sink your teeth into, if you have one, what is your process as an actor? I'm sure it's different for everyone. Honestly, it's very different for everyone. I've heard stories like I use a specific perfume, like a fragrance for a particular character. I don't pull that up. No, I mean, all due respect to who's ever's idea is this. Not trying to slander him or her down. But having said that, well, the process is simple. A, read the script four times before hitting the floor. B, leave a sense of, you know, what happens is sometimes you get into the script so much that you're not able to listen to what the director is saying or what your co-actor is saying. Sometimes they come from a very different process and a very different background and a very different approach of how they want to tell the story or how they want your character to be. And then at the end of the day, my character is written by that person and is being directed by somebody. He has a certain knack of storytelling and that's exactly how he wants it to be. So you should leave a little scope of changing your overall decibel levels to, you know, decibel levels to, we just ended the room and the person was like, you need to lower down your decibel levels. Otherwise, whenever I'm talking, my decibel levels are 10 on 10 right now. I'm on six. So, you know, this, so she must be the director here. Maybe, you know, yes. So if I would not have been, you know, prepared enough in my head and if I wouldn't have left a scope to change that little thing about myself, I wouldn't have been able to do this. I mean, the other interviews would have been, you know, getting affected. So having said that, leave a little scope of how your director wants it to be. So that's my process even after reading it four times. Apart from that, that's how I take life as well. That is don't think too much. If you think too much, the effortless, you know, tinge to your character goes out. So I think just leave a little bit of scope for imperfections as well. Absolutely. Did you have rehearsal time for the scenes? Yes, of course we did. We had proper workshops. We had proper readings. The moment Z Studios, you know, had relight this film, Atul made all of us sit together. Me and Rahul and Ishwak, we did our readings together. We did solo readings. Apart from that, I think Atul has a very, very straight process of while reading itself, it's very clear that what he wants. So on the set, it's not really, you know, something new you have to do to make sure that he's happy with their take. So yeah, I mean, you give your take. If he's not happy, ask for another one and we give another one. He's okay with it. I don't remember any take in the entire film, which was more than twice or thrice. Wow, that's right. The longer ones, we still, because I mean, there were a few interrogation scenes where, you know, we had to sometimes match the pitch, the beat. So yeah, there were a couple of scenes where we, which went on longer, but most of them were very, very straight and simple. The interrogation scenes, as you, as you've mentioned, were some of the highlights of the film with you and your co-actor Ishwak working together. It must have been a dream as an actor. Absolutely, we're neighbors, by the way. We're neighbors. Are you really? Yeah. That's awesome. Me and Ishwak are neighbors. That's great. And he's a great guy. I mean, I also know Auntie really well. She's absolutely amazing. She really blesses me as well as her own kids. So yeah, I touch wood. That's all God has been kind. As an actor, those scenes must have been really fun. Of course, yeah. I see we've seen Ishwak's journey so far and back to back really good web shows he's come out of. Absolutely. You know, especially Rocket Boys. Yeah. He really nailed it in Rocket Boys. So yeah, I mean, I think the kind of work he's picking up and he's a very, very sincere actor and a very sincere co-actor as well. Not very often you get to work with people who want to work together. So I mean, he's one of them who, I mean, who gives your, gives a co-actor the beat that, okay, let's, let's walk hand in hand. So yeah, I mean, and I normally, you know, believe in that process as well. So your conviction on that particular project becomes even better then. Absolutely. This is a question I would ask for your writer-director, but in the script sound plays such an important part in the storytelling in the film. Absolutely. Was that scripted as well or was that a surprise for you to see in the final cut? I mean, we did not know the sound at that time. Okay. The background music which came in, which was much later. And I think we all just went with Atul's conviction there in that case. We were not really worried about, you know, we only knew that it'll only become better with sound that we knew. Plus also if you talk about Jubilee as well, you know, I mean, Atul, when he was kind of narrating that or when we were doing the workshops, I had a little idea about that where the music is going. Right. So yeah, I mean, and also, you know, see, ours is a film which, which has reached, you know, a very reputed film festival. It's also backed by a very, very, you know, strong production house. You know that, you know that the people they'll hire will always be top notch. Right. So I mean, you know, not all the films here in film festivals are produced by big production houses. There are some humble producers as well. But, but in our case, we I think overall were at the right place at the right time to collaborate with the right people. And, and, you know, these studios were really, really, I think I love the way how they have, you know, films like Gutter 2 or Kashmir Files, which are out and out big Bollywood commercial films at the same time, Joram or Berlin. Or there's another Marathi film. I'm forgetting the name. What is the name? At the pamphlet. So, I mean, it's beautiful to see that how a production house has a vision to take all sorts of films together. So I don't want to name anyone. But if you pick up production houses in our country, they're known for that particular palette. Right. Those colors. Right. Those those those way that particular way of storytelling. Sure. They don't normally try different things. So I think this is this is where, you know, Berlin itself is a complete winner that it's backed by one of the leading production houses of the country. And last question here. I know you started your career out as more comedy. And now you've actually back to back Jubilee and now this much more dramatic. How are you liking the differences between the comedic acting and your dramatic? Honestly, I really, really love this side of it. But I'm dying to go back to comedy. We got Street 2 coming. Don't we? We're only shooting for Street 2. Yes. The next one of the one I'm shooting after Street 2 is also comedy. We haven't announced it yet. But yeah, because that's because that's the kind of energy I come from. But but if you want to, you know, get a serious attached to your craft, you need to do such cinema for sure. Also, I think not only acting, my way of growing as an artist is I want to do everything. Though I have a, you know, my throat has gone for a toss today, but I have music in me. I do a lot of music. I do, you know, a lot of hosting. I do a lot of chat shows. There's a reason I, before starting, I asked you that what are your names because so that it should look like three friends setting and having a conversation should not only be you introducing me, it should also be my audience is also there, right? Who wouldn't maybe know your names. I also want to tell them your name. So this is how it is. I mean, you know, so I've been, I mean, I do a lot of chat shows. I do a lot of hosting, live hosting in our country. So yeah, I mean, I forget by faking acting into a serious comedy. I want to do all of it. Absolutely. As you should. Well, thank you so much for sitting down and chatting with us. We love the film. We loved your performance. You're very talented. Thank you so much. So sweet of you. Thank you so much. The white in the blue and the gray are signing off, guys. Absolutely. The colors of the film are absolutely fantastic.