Actor Prashantt Guptha, who features in political thriller "The Tashkent Files", says that before doing the film he did not know much about the mysterious death of then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966.

Asked how much did he know about Shastri, Prashantt told IANS: "Considering the fact that I have been brought up in the US and studied there, I did not know much about Indian politicians, apart from Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, as any regular fellow who has studied in the US. But of course, it was an eye-opener for me to know the story of Shastriji."

In the film, helmed by Vivek Agnihotri, Prashantt has played a young politician who strongly opposes the idea of reopening the investigation of Shastri's death.

The actor said: "All the reactions of my character in the film are produced by fear, like the way presently Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are opposing the reality where a person who used to sell tea, became a Prime Minister and is unravelling the scams of their party... My character is also opposing the investigation fearing it will harm the image of the political party that he represents."

"The Tashkent Files" features iconic actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, Shweta Basu Prasad, Pallavi Joshi and Pankaj Tripathi.

During the course of shooting the film, Prashantt had quite a few interactions with veteran actor Mithun.

According to him, Mithun praised his performance.

"It is a huge thing for me to receive good words from him. I also have to mention that Pankaj Tripathi helped me to rehearse my lines with him. He is such a gem of a person."

On his upcoming projects, Prashantt said: "I have just come back from Kashmir because I finished shooting a film titled 'Regards and Peace', in which I am playing the protagonist. The film is directed by a filmmaker from Jammu. I am sharing screen space with Flora Saini. I have also acted in a short film with actress Bidita Bag and that will release soon. This apart, I have signed a Hollywood film titled 'A New Christmas'."

--IANS

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