Actor Rajniesh Duggall, who is best known for his positive roles over the years in projects like 1920, Inspector Avinash, Sanjog, Dangerous Ishq and many more, will now be seen playing a character with negative shades in the film Mandali starring alongside Brijendra Kala, Aanchal Munjal and Abhishek Duhan. Directed by Rakesh Chaturvedi Om, the film will release in theatres on October 27.
The actor will be essaying the character of an influential politician, Omkar Singh. Talking about the same, he stated, “It has been an incredible experience working on this film. When the director, Rakesh Chaturvedi, approached me with the script and narrated the idea and story, I initially thought that I would be offered the positive role of artistes playing Ram or Laxman. However, the director said that they wanted me to play the antagonist, Omkar Singh, the main villain of the film who is metaphorically described as the Ravan. I was thrilled, as I wanted to play something different from the positive roles that I had done so far, and this film gave me that opportunity to explore this complex character. This was an amazingly written role, so I immediately jumped on to it.”
Describing his character in the film, he says, “Omkar Singh is an influential, manipulative, and ruthless individual who wants everything his way. He is a formidable opponent. As a character, I would describe him to be someone who is very arrogant and egoistic, born and raised with silver spoon and likes to dominate and is very diplomatic. I am confident that the audience will find Omkar Singh to be a memorable character.”
Talking about the film’s USP, he says, “I think the film reflects the reality of 2-tier cities where Ramleela is exploited to gain votes and commercial profits by conducting obscene dances in between the shows. Also, the film is inspired from Munshi Premchand’s story Ramleela. I am sure that this film will not hurt any sentiments, but it does speak clearly about the truth behind Ramleela plays in small towns. It showcases the lives of Ramleela artistes both on and off stage. Yes, I understand that there is a responsibility when showing such sensitive subjects, but I believe that it is very relevant and needs to be seen by the audience.”
Produced by Prashant Kumar Gupta, Geetika Gupta and Neetu Sabarwal of Reltic Pictures, the film also stars an ensemble cast of Vineet Kumar, Kanwaljeet Singh, Alka Amin, Ashwath Bhatt, Saharsh Shukla and Neeraj Sood.