Young and handsome actor Sidharth Malhotra, who played a loverboy in his last two releases - "Student of the Year" and "Hasee Toh Phasee", says he found it taxing and challenging to feature in an intense role in "Ek Villain".

He reasons that he had no reference to the character in romantic thriller "Ek Villain", in which his role is that of a man with grey shades.

"To do an action-oriented and intense film right after doing romance is far more taxing because real life references are not there.

"Neither am I such a kind of person in real life nor do I know somebody with such personality. So, in that case, you have to work much harder, do homework as an actor, have to work on your look and this is what I have tried to do in the film," the actor told reporters here Tuesday at Lawman Pg3 store.

He hopes to do a range of films and characters post "Ek Villain".


"Hopefully after 'Ek Villain' I will get more films where I can do both positive and negative characters," added the 29-year-old, who turned to acting after being a successful model and working as an assistant director.

Directed by Mohit Suri, "Ek Villain" also features Riteish Deshmukh and Shraddha Kapoor. It will hit the theatres Friday.