EXCLUSIVE: Sohum Shah reveals his mother's reaction to Tumbaad, opens up about wanting to break the mould

Sohum Shah has been a part of several critically acclaimed films like Ship of Theseus and Tumbaad and is widely considered an intellectual actor. But at his heart, he wants to do massy and commercial films, the ones that we have grown up watching on the 70 mm as kids when multiplexes were still a thing of the future. The actor, who is a die-hard fan of SRK, had come to Bollywood following his footsteps. Now, while he does feel that he is arriving in the industry with projects like Big Bull and Maharani, he wants to do more of every genre. In fact, all he wants to do is prove the naysayers wrong and break the mould.

In an exclusive chat with us, he opened up about how he wants to do 'everything'. He wants to reach to every kind in the audience. In fact, he revealed a funny anecdote about his mother not liking Tumbaad. Sohum said, "Ship Of Theseus mein bohot maza aaya, Tumbaad jab maine banayi thi bohot maza aaya, those films were destined. But andar se hamesha yeh chah thi ki who dusra wala cinema bhi karna hai (mainstream films), the films which we have grown up watching, the films which my friends or family would watch aur unko maza aaye. I have received so much love for Ship Of Theseus, Tumbaad, but things were different in my house. I had taken my mother to Venice for Tumbaad’s premiere. People were giving a standing ovation for it, clapping for it. But when my mom stepped out of the theatre, she said, “Yeh kaisi filmein banata hai, itni darawni bhi, koi dhang ki film nahi banayi jati tujhse’. So woh hota hai! But everything has a time, a destiny and I feel finally the time is here."

He further added how he was once told that he can never do a romantic film. He wants to break that idea. He said, "I want to break this idea that I can fit only into certain kinds of role. Kabhi kisine mujhse kaha tha ki bhaiyya, yeh romantic filmein tumse na ho payegi. Mujhe yeh todna hai, mujhe dance karna hai. In fact, I have also trained in dancing. I want to explore everything. I have also gotten this serious image, this image of an intellectual man because of the choice of films, but I am nothing like that. As an actor I want to explore everything. Luckily, I am doing a comedy film. It is a silent film."

Well, we hope that with the comedy, and with his upcoming projects, he would steadily break the mould that the industry and the audience have subconsciously put him into. He did have a romantic angle in Simran, where he played Kangana Ranaut's Simran's boyfriend. We hope we get to see him more in masala films too!