SUBHASH K JHA IANS ACTOR Rajeev Khandelwal, whose performance in Soundtrack as a DJ-gone-deaf has been much appreciated, says he loved the process of getting to understand how a deejay moved, danced and played music.

“I took a seven-week DJ crash-course. I went with my director Neerav Ghosh to nightclubs, watched them at work and then began to research on them. VJ Nikhil Chinappa, who was my co-star in Shaitan, also helped me understand the art,” says Khandelwal.

The actor, who started his career from the small screen, says he wants to spend more time practicing the art. “I can’t claim to be a professional DJ. But I know how to fit beats into a loop, mix two songs.

We have a rather fixed image of a DJ as a guy who plays songs and dances frantically, gesticulating with his hands all the while. But I discovered many DJs are far more controlled in their movements,” he said. To prepare for his role in Soundtrack, the actor also attended a workshop for the deaf.

“I was coached by a teacher from the Helen Keller Institute who was actually my co-star Soha Ali Khan’s teacher. The thing is, I wasn’t playing a guy who was deaf since birth. The body language and the quality of deafness that happens much later in life is different,” the actor said. He says he made it a point not to watch actor Paul Kaye in the Canadian film It’s All Gone Pete Tong which is the reference point for Rajeev’s character in Soundtrack.

“No, I purposely stayed away from that film. But I did watch some footage of Frankie Wilde. The story of that DJ who went deaf was far more bizarre and debauched than what we’ve portrayed in Soundtrack. The drugs, alcohol and sex in Soundtrack was toned down.”