Titli actor Shashank Arora to play musician in Rock On 2

'Characters that are closer to you are tricky because one tends to get lazy in their portrayal,' says Shashank Arora.

Shashank Arora, who plays a Delhi-based criminal in Kanu Behl's Titli, has started shooting for Shujaat Saudaagar's Rock On!! sequel in Shillong.

But the Titli experience has left him shattered.

"It was very tough. The difficulty was not as much the criminal mindset but in creating his body language and motives. Workshops really helped me loose this upper middle class demeanour and my prior training has made me vulnerable enough to play the part," says Shanshank, who has studied music and cinema in Canada.

"Atul Mongia, who does the workshops, is a genius," he continues. "The credit also goes to my acting professor Rob Reece, who taught me all the craft I know."

Now Shashank is back to his comfort zone playing a musician in Rock On!! 2. He joins the rest of the cast -- Shraddha Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli.

"I play a classically trained musician," he says. "I will play the sarod and some base guitar. I will do back-up vocals too. Characters that are closer to you are tricky because one tends to get lazy in their portrayal. But it's not as complex as Titli."