Exclusive: “Lot to learn from Hrithik & Deepika,” says Karan Singh Grover about his Fighter co-stars

Tell us your first conversation with Siddharth when he approached you for the role of Taj

I remember the first conversation and it’s quite funny. I had gone over to meet Siddharth and Mamta (Anand) and he told me that he had just visited the Air Force Base in the North somewhere and he saw that all the Air Force officers are extremely good-looking people and look like supermodels. He then said he was thinking of casting for this film for which he wanted a good bunch of people who depict the Air Force officers correctly. We know each other from before. But that's the first conversation that happened. And then he narrated the script to me. Thank God he said all this because if I was saying all this about myself, it sounds very pompous. 

If not this one, which other character would you have loved to play in the film?

As far as the characters are concerned in the film, I love mine the best. But if I had the choice to choose I would be okay with anything or any character that Siddharth and Mamta asked me to play because they're all so well written and well crafted in the sense that they all have so much to do and they are all important.

Hrithik and you share such a strong camaraderie and bond in the film, what were the kind of workshops you people had?

The bond that you see in the film, I think it was Siddharth who kind of got us together. Luckily we're like-minded people so that worked to our benefit. He’s sweet and down to earth and was very inclusive. And he initiated the effort to create a bond. We did a reading session in his room the day before we shot our first scene. He's very knowledgeable and he knows a lot of things that can help you improve as a person and as an actor.

It’s a big-budget film with a huge star cast, what were the challenges like to just make your character stand out in such scenarios?

Yeah, it's a big-budget film. I believe that at the core we are all equal. So the person in front of me is another actor. They could be a very well-accomplished actor and great at their craft or not. For me, when I'm playing a character, I know for a fact that then, I can probably just stand on the ground and say this is me. I mean this is my character and I'll play it to the best of my abilities and I'm sure that nobody else would be able to do what I'm doing the way I do it because that's the way I do it. It's more like you do yours and I'll do mine. And because we have a similar goal or one goal, I think if we focus on ourselves and what we're supposed to do and how we're supposed to do it, then it kind of gets easier to reach where you intend to.

What would you say is the best part about sharing screen space with superstars like Deepika and Hrithik?

The best thing about sharing the screen with superstars like Deepika or Hrithik is that there’s a lot to learn from them. On how they operate, visualise and create. You just have to keep your mind, eyes and ears open and there's so much to learn from them.

Bipasha of course has been your biggest cheerleader, do you discuss scripts or scenes with her?

I’m extremely lucky to have Bipasha as my biggest cheerleader in the world. And she's all mine. No, I don't discuss scenes with her on anything that I find challenging to do. About the scenes that I'm going to do or. It's something that is. I'm focusing on myself and understanding how I would do things and not kind of be inspired by her because she's also an actor, she's an artiste and she has her own way of doing things.



But I like to keep it authentic to myself. Of course, this is only about acting, otherwise in life, I ask her about everything and ask for her opinion and advice on everything.

Does your daughter Devi already have the filmy bug in her?

She doesn’t have the filmy bug in her. She loves music. She is quite an entertainer, I must say.

You’ve come a long way you know, even when you did Dill Mill Gayye, do you think there's a particular image people formed of you as the perfect hero 

Yeah, it's been a long while since Dil Mill Gayye. Have people formed an image of me as a perfect hero? I don't know. It's a great image to have. It sounds like a very difficult image to live up to but it’s also a huge responsibility and superpower. I’m only grateful.