'People had a goofball kind of positioning for me in their heads'

Mumbai: Aparshakti Khurana said that it’s important to do films that help an actor steer clear of getting typecast and he is confident his next release ‘Berlin’ is a step in the same direction.

After a spate of hit comedy films such as ‘Stree’, ‘Pati Patni Aur Who’ and ‘Luka Chuppi’, Khurana was seen in a new light after playing a servile Binod Das who later became film star Madan Kumar in Vikramaditya Motwane’s web series ‘Jubilee’.

The actor will now be seen in ‘Berlin’, a spy thriller mystery set in the 1990s, directed by Atul Sabharwal. The film premiered at the first edition of the Red Lorry Film Festival in Mumbai on Friday.

“As an actor, it’s important to do films that are different from how you perceive them. The first eight to nine films of my career were back-to-back comedies. People had a goofball kind of positioning for me in their heads. I wasn’t trying too hard to break that positioning or to prove a point. I don’t want to get stereotyped as an actor who only does comedy or can only do serious parts. Hence, something like ‘Berlin’, which is absolutely opposite to my overall on-screen and off-screen persona,” Khurana told the top news agency on the sidelines of the film gala.

The actor, who started out as a radio jockey and made his film debut with 2016’s ‘Dangal’, plays a sign language expert named Pushkin in ‘Berlin’.

Khurana said that he underwent rigorous coaching to learn the language.

“It was a very alien world, but it was so beautiful. There’s so much to be communicated through the eyes and in sign language, it becomes even more important. The beauty of this language is that it has a more organic approach to life,” he said.

Produced by ‘Zee Studios’ and ‘Yippee Ki Yay Motion Pictures’, ‘Berlin’ also stars Rahul Bose, Kabir Bedi and Anupriya Goenka.

The Red Lorry Film Festival concluded on Sunday.