Siddharth Menon Exclusive Interview: "I Would Like To Work With Vinay Pathak More"

Siddharth Menon is an actor who has not restricted himself to any particular genre or platform, for that matter. Ever since starting his career a couple of years ago, he has explored various genres as an actor and worked in multiple languages like Hindi, English and Marathi. Peddlers (2012), Loev (2015) and Rajwade and Sons (2015) are some of his notable works.

Siddharth Menon is currently seen in Hotstar Specials’ first digital film titled Chappad Phaad Ke. It premiered on 18^th October and has been receiving rave reviews ever since. Besides Siddharth Menon, the movie also features Vinay Pathak, Ayesha Raza and Sheetal Thakur in important roles.

Recently STARBIZ sat down with Siddharth Menon to talk to him about Chappad Phaad Ke, his working experience with the entire cast of the film and what makes the digital movie a must-watch. The talented actor also opened up about his forthcoming projects and much more.

Can you tell us something about Hotstar Special film Chappad Phaad Ke?

Chappad Phaad Ke is a Hotstar Special film which released on the 18^th October. It is Hotstar’s first exclusive feature film. It is about this simple middle-class family of the Cupchups that suddenly gets a lot of money, unclaimed cash, to be more precise.

After finding the money, the relations of the family changes drastically and the effect of that on each individual is what has been shown in the film. It is the crux of the story.

Can you describe the roles of each character that play in the film?

The head of the family is Sharad Gupchup, which is played by Vinay Pathak. He is very set in his ways. He is a very principled man. He is the kind of man who says that if you want to live under my roof, you have to live under my rules.

Then comes his son Shubham Gupchup, who played by me. Shubham is kind of tired of this mediocrity and the middle-class daily struggles and wants to break through this and make something of his own.

He wants to be a photographer, but according to his father, that is not even an option. There is also his mother, played by Ayesha Raza, who is trying to keep the balance between the father and the son, and there is Sheetal Thakur who plays my sister, she is the golden child of the family.

How were you experience working with seasoned actor Vinay Pathak?

Absolutely what I thought it would be and, in fact, much better. I have seen so many of his works and we were acquainted with each other because I have been working in the industry for some time too, though when we actually started working together, he was everything I hoped for and more. In the film, he is my father but in real life, he is like my brother.

He keeps you very comfortable. During the making of the film, we were thinking about how to give our best. We set a level for ourselves and I think we are successful at that account. Vinay sir was also on the same page, and when such a senior actor is so cool, all the fear dissipates. It was a pleasure working with him and I would like to work with him more. I hope he wants to work with me too.

You have worked on various platforms, personally which one is your favourite?

I have worked in theatres, in Marathi films and Hindi films, though when you are working, the platform is not that big on your radar. When you are shooting a film, you are shooting a film, may it be Marathi, Hindi, Malayalam or any other language for that matter. The only difference, however, is in the technicalities, the difference between live audience and movie theatre audience.

With this film, there is a speciality that it is available on a web platform, so people can watch it at their own pace and own time and it is here to stay on the platform. There is no timeline yet. For me, I love to watch films in a movie theatre. That is a whole other experience in itself, though the accessibility that an OTT platform has cannot be denied.

There are a lot of discussions considering censorship right now. Are you worried about it affecting web content in future?

I do not think censorship is going to play any role in this film as it is a family film, a satirical film. I think when it comes to censorship, we have to trust our storytellers and filmmakers. They know what they are doing. Also, we have to trust the audience who are consuming all this and they know what they are consuming. As far as censorship is concerned, I am still a little confused about that but our audiences are great, they respond very well, may it be in theatres or OTT platform.

Can you tell us something about your future projects?

There are a few films that I am currently working on. It is too early to disclose anything about them because I am waiting for the producers to make the official announcement. What I can tell you at this moment is about a Netflix series that I am in. It is called Betaal which is produced under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment. That will be out soon. That is all I can reveal as of now.

Can you tell your audience why they should see Chappad Phaad Ke?

You should watch Chappad Phaad Ke because it is a great story. It is funny. It is a family film. It is something which you would have not seen before. Moreover, it is accessible at your own leisure at home as it is streaming Specials, and it really is a good film. I believe that my entire team and I have done a pretty great job and we dearly wish you see this film and judge for yourself. I hope you enjoy watching it.

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