Sarkeet actor Asif Ali on why his wish list includes doing mass films

Malayalam actor Asif Ali is, perhaps, the only one among his peers to have not attempted a larger-than-life role in a mass film; something that he hopes to remedy shortly. Asif’s latest, Sarkeet, has him in the role of a struggling expat, desperate to get some form of employment, and follows the bond that he forms with a young boy, who, as it turns out, has ADHD. Through the years, Asif has developed a boy-next-door kind of image, which he is looking at breaking in his upcoming projects.

Asif Ali: I want to do heroic, larger-than-life characters

“I need to do larger-than-life characters; the rest have begun to get boring. In fact, my next, Tiki Taka, is one such film and is in a very different space. I really do want to do a bunch of heroic characters. I have a boy-next-door image among audiences, which has impacted my choice of characters, in the sense that I was afraid to take up roles that have an upper-hand. That needs to change, for which I want to do a few mass films,” said Asif, during a Sarkeet promotional interview with RJ Rafi on Star Jam.

Tiki Taka, he adds, is a mass film for which he needs to undergo a physical transformation and take fight training as well. But it’s still not in the larger-than-life category, which is what Asif wants to break into. He cites the example of Mohanlal’s character in Sphadikam, and how his rowdiness reflected in the attitude and fights, etc. That’s the kind of roles Asif is looking for.

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Tiki Taka is Asif’s third collaboration with director Rohith VS after Adventures of Omanakuttan and Ibilis, the latter being a film that the actor says was ahead of its time. “We are determined to make Tiki Taka also a very different film that stands out. Rohith’s confidence has rubbed off on me,” said the actor.