‘Want to know whether guilty or not guilty’

After debuting in the 2015 film Hero, actor Sooraj Pancholi is finally onto his next film Satellite Shankar, which is being helmed by Irfan Kamal. As the trailer of the film saw dawn recently, one must be wondering under which rock the actor was hiding after his first release four years ago. It may be recalled that Sooraj had been embroiled in his then-girlfriend Jiah Khan’s suicide case, as the actor was allegedly accused of abetting the suicide.

At a recent press conference for the film, Sooraj broke down, saying, “My struggle was not only limited to four years. It’s been a long struggle. At 21, I was put into jail. I don’t wish to hide; everyone wants to know about it. I kept quiet all this while. I still believe in the court. I have been going to court since I was 21-years-old. Next month, I shall be 29-years-old. In my case, I have been asking for the trial to go ahead. I have filed a writ petition for that.”

Hence before any filmmaker would make him an offer, the priority would always be the state of the case. “Every time I go to any studio, they ask me what’s happening with my case. If I were in their position, I would have asked the same thing but I have nothing to say. I am an accused; I can’t do anything. I have to wait for the trial to start,” says Sooraj before adding, “The duty of the complaintant should be that they should come to the court and start the trial if they want justice. But every time I have a trial, they catch a flight and fly to London because they have a British Passport. The authorities over here can’t do anything about it. That is not fair. I want this trial to begin because I want an answer whether I am guilty or not guilty.”

Moving on to talking about the film, Sooraj is in awe of his director. “Irfan sir and I know each other. He called me up at 12:30 am and said that I have a script that I’ll narrate it to you tomorrow. Three hours felt so short. It didn’t take me one minute to okay the film,” says the actor.

Although the film comes with its share of controversies as the viewers can point out similarities with Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Talking about the comparison, Sooraj says, “ Even though Bajrangi Bhaijaan was a very commercial film, the feelings portrayed were very honest and real. So this film is also like that. I did not do this film merely for action and dance. This story is about a soldier who wants to meet his mother and what he faces during his journey. For this film, we travelled from Himachal Pradesh to Kerala. If this film does well, I hope we can go ahead and make Satellite Shankar 2.”