Abhay Deol's jitters in sky for 'Zindagi Na...'

Jun 21, 2011 IANS

Mumbai, June 22 (IANS) There were many firsts for Abhay Deol in "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" - while he enjoyed sea diving and singing, the actor was scared out of his wits when he had to skydive for a scene in the movie.

"I always wanted to jump off a plane, which I got a chance to do in this film, but it was scary. I did a tandem jump -- you are tied up with a guy who has a parachute strapped on because in your first jump, you always have to be with someone," Abhay told IANS.

"He (the instructor) opened the door of the aircraft and sat on the door with his legs hanging in the air with me on top of him. I told him either sit inside or jump, I can't handle this. Then when we jumped, I felt like changing my mind and going back in, but you can't do that; so that's even more scary," added the 35-year-old.

But Abhay enjoyed sea diving and found it "meditational because I love the water".

"I like swimming. Whenever I sea a blue sea, I feel like diving and that dream came true during this film."

Director Zoya Akhtar narrates the story of three friends in "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara". She has teamed up with Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay for the film. For the female lead, she zeroed in on Kalki Koechlin and Katrina Kaif.

It is slated for release July 15.

Apart from indulging in adventure sports, the actor also sang for the first time in the film and even matched steps with prolific dancer Hrithik in the song "Senorita".

"Singing was fun. I'm not a singer, so I was a bit worried, but I was more interested about singing than dancing. I'm never excited about dancing. I did that very grudgingly. We locked the steps three days before shoot and then practised for three days. Not very hard steps and that's why we were so casual about it.

"For me, it's not about the difficulties or easiness of a step, it's about getting over the consciousness of doing the steps," said Abhay, who did tango dance in the song "Pyaar ki yeh" in "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd".

In his six-year acting career, Abhay usually featured as the protagonist in movies like "Socha Na Tha", "Ahista Ahista", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" and "Dev.D".

But in "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", he is sharing that space with two other actors.

"We all are the main protagonists in this film; so it's not that it's breaking me away from the main lead. There is nothing wrong with sharing space. I have done that before with 'Honeymoon Travels...', where there were six couples.

"Then in 'Aisha', I wan't even the main protagonist; so I don't have those problems. As long as I like the character, I have no problems with sharing the space with anyone," he said.

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Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara