Omi Vaidya — better known as Chatur of 3 Idiots — gets into comic mode yet again with Desi Boyz. A t2 chat…

What was the Desi Boyz experience like?

My role was included after a large part of the script was written and though it was supposed to be a significantly smaller role, the makers loved it so much that the length was increased. There are some really nice dialogues… the kind that makes viewers cheer and go, ‘Wah! Kya baat!’ It’s not really the lead part or something, but my role is going to be very memorable.

I basically play the guy in between John (Abraham) and Deepika (Padukone). They have just broken up and she goes out on a couple of dates with me (laughs). John is such a giant… he is a massive guy… and my character takes him on… so there are a lot of comic moments that arise from that also. Then there is a fun twist involving me at the end that the audiences are going to love.

How was it sharing screen space with John, Deepika and Akshay Kumar?

It was a riot! Both John and Deepika are extremely chilled out and so is Akshay. Rohit (Dhawan, the director) is a young guy with new comedic sensibilities. His perception and execution of comedy is very new-age… very sharp. Through half of the takes, we were laughing uncontrollably.

You change tracks with the Abbas-Mustan thriller Players…

Players is a total team effort — there are about seven leads in the film. The great thing was the locations we shot in… we went to remote places in Russia and New Zealand where the BlackBerries don’t work, and we really bonded well as a team even outside the set.

After all the comic films you have been a part of, how was it being in a thriller?

Very interesting… very different. Here the plot was the hero. It’s a very edge-of-the-seat, dynamic thriller. The cameras are constantly moving, the shots are very short… and everything is edited in the brains of Abbas-Mustan. There was some improvisation, but no last-minute changing of scenes and dialogues like it happens in some films.

Is Players a conscious effort to move away from comedy?

It wasn’t really about moving away from something as it was about moving towards something else. I want to continue doing challenging roles, whether they are comedic, romantic or any other genre. The main reason why I opted for Players was that no one — in fact, I myself — would ever think of Omi Vaidya being in an action thriller. I have had to work on my look and body to play this character. My character has shades of grey, which was also something new for me.

What else is keeping you busy?

After Players, there will be Jodi Breakers which is a (R.) Madhavan-Bipasha (Basu) romantic comedy. It’s again in the fun space, but my character is as opposite as it can get from 3 Idiots. After that, I will be on to Satte Pe Satta. We will be shooting in villages and that’s something I have never done before.

Are you happy with the way your career has panned out after 3 Idiots?

I really never thought I would be in 3 Idiots in the first place, or for that matter, I would be in India (Omi was born and brought up in the US). So, I really don’t have a direction in which I am going. I am just trying to do good work, good cinema. I never wanted to be a massive Bollywood superstar while growing up in America. I am just happy getting to know the cinema in my motherland and being a part of it.