First, it is not about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. “It is about his dream, his values which we should’ve followed,” Sushant Singh warms up for a chat on his upcoming film, Mazhar Kamran’s Mohandas. A film on identity theft, Singh plays the thief who acts smart, steals a name and takes up a job reserved for someone else. “That’s right, I’m the thief,” he confesses. Interestingly, his character’s not at all guilt-ridden nor does he offer any explanation for this criminal act. “When you delve into the rural India, the backlands, you’ll realise it’s a fight for survival out there which further thins down the line between right and wrong. Everyone desperately wants to get out of the rut, and hence some actions are justified,” he draws a parallel.

After doing Satya and Kaun with him, Singh didn’t flinch a bit when Mazhar offered him Mohandas. In fact, the actor did it for free! “He’s an old friend, and neighbour, and the question of money never arose. The subject was experimental, sensible, it was a small budget film and I found it unethical to demand money,” says Sushant, who will also be seen in Wilson Louis’s horror flick Shout and Lahore, which is based on kickboxing and Vinay Shukla’s Mirch.

Things are finally looking up in Bollywood, and Singh’s satisfied with the new breed of writers and directors who are willing to take a risk with non-heroes and complex subjects. “Times are right, and every film-maker is trying to make something different, and I personally make sure that I work on a variety for I don’t want to take the risk of getting bored or get cast in a stereotype,” Singh, however, wishes that the younger lot gets out of the metros and picks subjects from the region, the rural landscape of the country. “Unfortunately, the present generation has only seen city life, they don’t know what exists beyond it,” he rues. Nevertheless he carries on, and is taking a slight detour from acting to writing. “It has been a dream to write and turn director,” and for this Sushant has already zeroed in on a concept - an intimate story with few characters. “More on human relationships, and I should be ready with it in a year or so.” We are looking forward to that. Mohandas is releasing on July 11.