By Ahana Bhattacharya
Mumbai, May 19 (IANS): Casting director-turned-actor Abhishek Banerjee would love to reprise Al Pacino's iconic character Tony Montana in Brian De Palma's 1983 classic "Scarface".
"I've been fascinated with Al Pacino all my life. Something like Tony Montana in Scarface -- that's the kind of dream role I have for me. If I ever get to play something like that, I'm sure I'm going to kill it. The energy, the gruesomeness of such a character is always very exciting. It is very liberating and helps you vent your inner anger," Abhishek told IANS.
After working in theatre in Delhi, Abhishek arrived in Mumbai around 12 years ago with the dream of being an actor, He took up casting direction in order to support himself in the expensive city. Althouygh he has been around for a while, life changed after he garnered critical appreciation for his performance in the 2018 horror comedy "Stree".
"Before Stree, I used to doubt myself as an actor. Filmmakers didn't know about me. No matter how talented you are, till the time people trusts you, I don't think you can showcase your talent. Stree gave me that opportunity -- that recognition and trust. Whatever I am today is because of that film. Huge thanks to (director) Amar Kaushik and (producers) Maddock Films for that."
The 36-year-old actor is not interested in confining himself to Hindi cinema. Rather, he wants pan-India recognition.
Abhishek said: "As an actor I want to work in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Bengali among others. I have stayed in several parts of India because of my dad's Armed Forces background. He used to get transferred every four to five years. I want to become a pan-India actor."
With films mostly releasing on OTT in the current pandemic situation, does he feel it makes a difference to him as an actor? "I don't know, maybe it makes a difference. As an actor, watching myself on the big screen is more exciting than watching myself on the small screen. Of course, I can't complain. OTT is also a medium where everybody can watch your work," he replied.
On the work front, Abhishek features in the latest Netflix anthology "Ajeeb Daastaans". The actor has his kitty full with upcoming projects like "Dostana 2", Akarsh Khurana's "Rashmi Rocket", Amar Kaushik's "Bhediya", Umesh Shukla's "Aankh Micholi" and Satram Ramani's "Helmet".