For some, retirement is synonymous with relaxation, but there are others who never really hang their boots. Actor Ashish Vidyarthi is surely one of them. It seems life has just begun for the actor who just touched 57 and was last seen in the blockbuster web series Rana Naidu, starring Venkatesh and Rana Daggubati. As he gears up for a few more releases this year, including Vishal Bhardwaj’s spy thriller Khufiya, we catch up with him to know more about his choices and experiences.
What keeps your excitement alive as an actor?
When I get to play a variety of roles, it just puts me on fire. This whole thing of bagging and playing various roles keeps me excited. You have known Vishal Bhardwaj for a long time. Khufiya was great and I get very emotional when I work with Vishal Bhardwaj — he is such a dear friend. It seems like yesterday when we were together in college, singing songs at night composed by him.
Now that you’re playing varied roles, do you feel you had often been typecast?
I was offered those roles, and I accepted them because those were the ones I got. As a professional actor, you make the best choices out of the offers given to you. I made choices then, and I make choices now, and I don’t look at it as being typecast. An actor’s appetite never gets satiated. Someone who is playing the lead would love to play an antagonist and vice versa.
You have been out on the roads and vlogging about interesting eateries. Tell us about your experience?
I like to dive in and get the flavours of food cooked anywhere — be it Singapore, Rourkela, Congo, or the US. The way people are living and eating interests me, and that is why I keep doing this. I love to travel, explore, grow and be amazed by life — as an actor, a speaker, a vlogger, a discoverer, or as someone who likes to strike a conversation and create podcasts out of it. And all of this will be a part of me in the future, too.