Samir Soni: I will stay 40 till I am 60!

“I am embarrassed on birthdays. I even switch my phone off,” says Samir Soni, who turns 53 today. The birthday boy says growing up “we didn’t celebrate too much”. “Now, I am an older and if you are turning 18, then one can be excited.” He shares that he would have a quiet dinner with his family and not even friends adding, he has thrown 3-4 birthday parties in his life. “I am going to stay 40 till I turn 60,” he quips.

The actor had four film releases this year including Mumbai Saga, The Big Bull, State of Siege: Temple Attack and Chehre and two web shows Puncch Beat and Cartel. He is enjoying shooting non stop and glad that people are seeing him in a different light. “I recently shot for Saurabh Shukla’s directorial and a Vikram Bhatt series with Sunny Leone. Cartel, too, got a great response and people loved my negative role. Earlier people saw a nice looking guy and cast me in older brother, young husband or rich tycoon roles. I got typecast. Now that I am older, I am getting mature and negative roles. Now, the focus is not on my looks but my acting. Negative roles are fun as there are no boundaries.”

Soni is also excited about his book, which will be out next month. He admits unlike other celeb books, it wont be a memoir. Explaining he says, “It is an exploration of being an introvert. How to survive in an extrovert world. It also has part of my diary. I have questioning what is right and wrongs. Why do we emphasis on being rich or famous? I discuss conditioning and basic values, especially now that there are many mental health issues. Our society puts pressure on people to look and be a certain way. In fact, my condition to the publishers was to not have my face on the cover of the book.”