Look who dropped into the Team MissMalini office the other day! Sid Mallya is back from LA looking like a lean, mean health machine! In fact he spent Tuesday morning shooting for the cover of Men’s Health and told us all about his special tricks to looking as muscular as possible. After that he answered a bunch of YOUR Twitter questions and my “So True, So False” Deepika Padukone rumours! Curious yet? 🙂 xoxo
PS. How cute that Sid brought us a bag full of candy cane? Yay!
JUST CALL HIM SID CLAUSE!
Sid Mallya Is Back in Bombay! Guess What He’s Up To?
MissMalini: When did you get back? Between L.A. and your travelling around, when did you get back and what’s going on?
Sid Mallya: I got back about a week ago. I’ve been in L.A. as you mentioned. Good to be back in India, to be able to come and do things like this as well. It’s far man, L.A. that’s the only problem with L.A. it’s on the other side of the world. It’s too far from everything. It’s a nightmare.
MissMalini: What have you been doing in L.A.? We’ve been hearing a lot about you starting movies.
Sid Mallya: We hope so. That’s the plan. I’m there, sort of, taking acting classes and getting into that world. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, it’s something I’ve always been interested in doing as well. But you know, having been born into this family, expected to do the family business, which I gave it a go, didn’t enjoy it. I moved on. It all started from that online blog I did, not blog, that chat show, No Boundaries during the IPL in 2012, and a lot of things sort of steam-rolled from there. We got so much great feedback from there. People were like, ‘Oh, you got such a great presence on camera, you speak so well!’, this and that. There was interest from the U.S., more in the sort of hosting space. Once I got there, they were like, ‘You’ve seen so much in your life, you have so many personal experiences. It may be actually quite easy for you to put that together and start acting.’ So I started taking classes and things have progressed amazingly, so I couldn’t be happier.
MissMalini: I know fans of yours here, are probably wondering, why not Bollywood? Why not start at home?
Sid Mallya: I’ve said this before, I think I’d be useless in Bollywood. I don’t think I’d be able to do it. It’s got different sensibilities. I was brought up in the U.K. I was born in America, so, my whole life, I’ve been, for all intents and purposes, a Westerner. And Bollywood was never something that appealed to me. Even watching it, I never used to. Firstly, let me just clarify, whatever I do in life, I want to be the best. I don’t want to do something for the sake of doing it. And I just feel like in Bollywood, I’d never be able to be the best. I want to be able to give the audiences what they want to see. I mean, if you’re a little boy, sitting in Bihar, saved up three weeks’ worth of his money to go and watch a film, and I turn up on screen, sounding like this, looking like this, Yorkshire British, it’s not something they’re going to get on with. I feel l’d be cheating the audience as much as myself. Though it’s easy, I’m sure I could have done it by now, I mean, there were offers, I would tell you that much. But it wasn’t something I felt comfortable doing because I didn’t think I’d be any good at it.
MissMalini: What kind of movie would you like to be in in Hollywood? Like action, romance… what kind of character do you think you’d be good at?
Sid Mallya: I don’t know. I always saw myself as more of the dramatic type. I always wanted to do, sort of, Tom Cruise’s films. His character of Mitch McDeere in The Firm and Maverick in Top Gun. Then I did the showcase for ABC and they gave me a comedic scene to do. And apparently, everyone loved it! Their thing is, if you can do comedy, you can do drama but not the other way round. We’ll just have to wait and see.
MissMalini: You’re looking really fit. You’ve lost a lot of weight. You have a shoot. Tell us about that.
Sid Mallya: I’ve probably lost some weight in the last couple of days. Apart from that, I’m the same as I’ve always been. I’m shooting for Men’s Health, that’s the one magazine you’ve got to look as good as possible on.
MissMalini: What’s your secret? I’m sure a lot of guys want to know.
Sid Mallya: This is the first time I’m trying this. I’ve got a nutritionist in America who sent me a diet plan. It’s awful. It’s horrible. It’s brutal. It’s literally eating boiled fish, boiled vegetables, no salt, no flavour, nothing. 1 litre of water through the day, in sips throughout the day. The idea is that for 3 days before the shoot, to get all the fluid and liquid out of the system, so you can look as cut as possible. And just before the shoot, load up on carbs, load up on honey and bananas, which is meant to fill the muscle out.
MissMalini: What do you do for exercise? Are you a big gym freak?
Sid Mallya: I’m a very active person. I’ve always had too much energy for my own good. My mom always used to say, when I was a kid, if I could sit still for 5 minutes, I would win a prize. I never won but it’s a good way to release that built up energy I had. I gym 6 times a week, cardio 4 times a week, a lot of pilates, that sort of stuff.
MissMalini: For all the Sid Mallya fans, what am I looking forward to? What can I wait to watch?
Sid Mallya: No one would be happier to see me in something other than myself. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. 2014 is going to be a big year for me. I have a good feeling. I’ve been doing this for a year and a half now and things have progressed at a rate far quicker than we ever would have anticipated. Things are going in the right direction and hopefully, if it continues in the same manner with the same momentum, then, it will be sooner rather than later.
MEN’s HEALTH MAGAZINE SHOOT
Sid Mallya appears to have impressed the powers that be at ABC! He even appeared on the coveted ABC Showcase in LA. After being selected out of 8,000 contestants and going through some gruelling audition rounds he was finally selected as one of the coveted top 20 and took part in the main showcase event!
Sid Mallya Not As Easy As ABC!
Sid Mallya: Yeah, so, while I was there, ABC does this showcase every year where they audition thousand of actors and they choose a group. They put on a one-night stage show, where you perform your scene live in front of all the bigwigs from the industry – the major casting directors, studio heads, agents, managers, you name it, they’re there. If it’s an ABC showcase, they know they’re going to have the best, that’s why people go. So I was invited to audition for this thing. Out of like 8 and a half thousand people who auditioned, I went through the rounds, call backs, etc – finally got selected in the final 20. Which is great for someone who has been doing this for a year and a half. In fact, my director, I don’t if any of you watch How I Met Your Mother, there was a character in the most recent series called Patrice, who was a recurring character, that Barney had employed to be his fake girlfriend, to make Robin jealous. The actual person’s name is Ellen De Williams, who was my director, I got to work with her, which was great.
MissMalini: What scene did you do?
Sid Mallya: I got paired up, after all the mix and match. After the 20 are chosen, we spend a week at the ABC headquarters, going through scene after scene, mixing and matching, to find the right chemistry with the right actor. I was paired with this Australian chap. The scene was: two guys giving the welcome speech aboard a flight and then we end up trying to outdo each other and getting into a massive fight. It was great, the feedback was superb. It was a brutal process with ABC, though, rehearsing like 12 hours a day, just for a 20 minute scene. The show went off fantastic. ABC said it was the best showcase they’ve ever had. The VP of ABC actually came down to the dressing room before the showcase and said, ‘Look, each one of you has been specifically handpicked here for a reason that goes far beyond just this showcase, to do with what other plans we have for you in the future with this network.’ That was good to know. Pilot starts between January and March, where all the new pilots are being picked up by the network. They’ll cast them, they’ll shoot them and some of them will be picked up and turned into seasons.
MissMalini: If you had to be on one of the existing sitcoms, which one would you love to be a part of?
Sid Mallya: I really wanted to be on Agents Of Shield. I loved that show. That’s an ABC show as well. There’s a new ABC show coming up called Mixology, a mid-season replacement that I read for in January last year, obviously didn’t get it. I really like The Goldbergs. I couldn’t be on that show because I don’t fit in with the cast. If you want to watch a show that is hysterically funny, watch that one.
Sid Mallya Answers YOUR Twitter Questions!
Q: You do a lot of charity work. What’s your view on charity and what form does it take for you?
Sid Mallya: I’m a big believer in charity. It’s important to always help those out who are less fortunate than you or are in a position of disadvantage, either through physical disadvantage or financial disadvantages. It’s always important to give back to the community and society. When I go back to London now, me and a friend are actually going to go work at a soup kitchen and serve soup to the homeless. But that’s one way everyone can get involved. Charity doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go and write cheques out to different organisations. I’ve supported the Happy home School for the Blind for a number of years and whenever I’m in town and have the opportunity, I go back and play with the kids. It’s those little things that really count and make a difference in the bigger picture.
Q: Christmas is coming up. What do you hope is under the tree for you?
Sid Mallya: I’ve had so much go for me this year, I couldn’t ask for more. I honestly couldn’t ask for more. But it’s funny, I always go back home for Christmas with my mum, she’s in the UK. She loves it. We have a big, 12 foot Christmas tree, she does the Christmas turkey and I carve it. All that sort of stuff goes on and still, to this day, she fills up a stocking for me. We leave a plate of cookies and milk out, carrots for the reindeer and we come down, the cookies have been eaten, the milk’s been half gone, there’s a note from Santa Clause saying ‘thank you’ and there’s a stocking full of stuff, mostly, it’s just junk but you know, it’s the thought that you like.
Q: You used to be a business boy and now you’ve switched to acting. What made you change and who’s going to inherit your dad’s business?
Sid Mallya: I’m still a business boy at the end of the day. Business is not something you can just stop doing. Nowadays, it’s always about thinking outside of the box, so I may be able to act but I know I have this side of me as well. There’s a numerous amount of opportunities. I may sound a bit self-centred but it’s good to be multi-talented. It works in my favour. When I go in to meetings in the U.S. and I speak to certain people, I ask certain questions thinking with my business in mind and they don’t have answers for me, they’re not used to people coming in and asking those sort of questions. It’s good that I’ve had that background. Coming to his business, it’s his company and what he does with it is his decision at the end of the day.
So True So False! Was Deepika EVER Hired to Be Your Girlfriend?
Sid Mallya answers those “So True So False” rumours about Deepika Padukone and tells us what his perfect girl is like. Oh and he loved our Johnny Bravo blog about him *hehehe* 🙂
Psst! Ladies do you have the THREE qualities he’s looking for? Watch and find out now!
MissMalini: We’ve heard from a lot of industry insiders that you were dating Deepika but she was sort of hired to up your profile and attend parties with you. So true or so false?
Sid Mallya: So false! I’ve got better ways to spend my money. Having said that, I just want to put it out there, saying something like that is utter nonsense, and people can say what ever they want, it’s very easy to start a rumour against people. It’s a little bit unfair on the girl saying things like that, you’re basically implying, she was paid to escort me around. Need I say anything more? It’s not exactly right from a girl’s point of view. For her sake, it’s perhaps not the kindest thing to say.
MissMalini: How did you guys start dating? And why didn’t it work out?
Sid Mallya: Things just happen. We’re both young, people drift, you go your separate ways, you know. It was what it was. She’s a great girl, she’s always going to be a friend of mine. I met her, way way back, apparently, I can’t remember this, when she was modelling in Bangalore. Then I moved to India, we got introduced, and that was it, we became friendly and obviously, she was at the IPL games, she was a brand ambassador for our team. I’ll leave it at that.
MissMalini: Obviously, Mrs Mallya, your future wife, is out there. What is she like, who are you hoping will come along?
Sid Mallya: My perfect woman has to have three qualities: a great sense of humour, a great smile and she has to have a very, very long fuse be ’cause I wind people up all the time. She’s got to be able to put up with me and my jokes and my pranks, constantly trying to stitch people up. If she can get those three things right, then, I think I’ll be a very happy man.
Thanks for dropping by Sid Mallya, you’re a fabulous sport! xoxo
And it looks like it was papa Vijay Mallya‘s happy happy today since Sid Instagrammed this picture! *Awwww* 🙂