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“I was given just fifteen days to learn the sarod for Rock On 2” – Shashank Arora

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After getting rave reviews for Yash Raj Films’ ‘Titli’, in which he played the title role, Shashank Arora was seen in filmmaker Q’s ‘Brahman Naman’ earlier this year. ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’, another film that he is a part of, has been garnering a lot of acclaim in the festival circuit. Ahead of the release of his upcoming film ‘Rock On 2’, the sequel to ‘Rock On!!’, the actor talks about the film, learning the sarod, being a part of the first Indian film to be shot on an iPhone and a lot more.

‘Rock On 2’ is, perhaps, your biggest film as far the scale and the mounting is concerned. Your character of a sarod player is expected to bring a new dimension to the sound of Magik, the band.
I do not think you can classify a film as big or small. That is not the correct way to phrase it. Bringing in a Hindustani classical music flavour to rock music and introducing the young audience to sarod, which is not a very well-known instrument, was a very interesting idea. The entire world is listening to fusion music and the boundaries between different genres are getting blurred. I was excited to play the role of a sarod player but it was a challenging task as I was given only fifteen days to learn the sarod.

Did the fact that you are a trained musician help you while preparing for the role?
I have been trained to play the bansuri. I learnt to play the guitar and the ukelele by myself. Having a basic sense of music did help me in learning to play the sarod.

After ‘Titli’ and ‘Brahman Naman’, ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ is your third film to make rounds of film festivals. It has already been shown in the Tokyo Film Festival and Mumbai Film Festival. Can you share something about your role in the film?
‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ is a woman oriented film directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, who is a very talented director. I was very happy to see that a film about women was being made by a woman. I play the boyfriend of the character played by Plabita Borthakur. It is a small, supporting part. I am very proud of the way the film has shaped up and strongly stand by what it is trying to say.

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