High actor Akshay Oberoi gives in to the dark side

Akshay Oberoi

After three releases in Illegal, Hum Tum and Them, and Flesh this year, Akshay Oberoi is in no mood to slow down. The actor's latest release, High, sees him play a drug addict who is sent into rehab. Despite having essayed diverse roles with ease, Oberoi admits it was challenging to follow writer-director Nikhil Raj's vision and inhabit a character that was so far removed from him. "I did a lot of [theoretical] research by talking to my friends in the US and doctors who have seen the effect of drug usage. I wanted to draw from their experiences. Usually, I get into the skin of my character, but in this scenario, I couldn't. It was exciting to play this character purely based on my understanding after reading the material," he says.

While the MX Player thriller was shot last year, the team wrapped up the dubbing and post-production during the lockdown in time for its October release. If understanding the psyche of a drug addict was difficult, he notes that getting out of the character was a far more arduous task. "Everyone talks about how they get into a character, but rarely do people discuss the process of getting out. I remember playing Taj [his character in Flesh], it took me a while to come back to myself. In fact, my wife Jyoti had to remind me to snap out of it."

Having played several dark roles, Oberoi is now keen to try his hand at comedy. "The idea is to keep improving as an actor. My priority is to bust any preconceived notions about my acting skills and show that I can do justice to any role," he states.

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