India, Sept. 22 -- Though it released to critical acclaim last month, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri starrer Dhadak 2 underperformed at the box office. Actor Vipin Sharma, who portrays Sidhant's father in the depiction of the marginalised community, believes that the subject itself made the audience uneasy. "Box office depends on various factors, but there is some kind of reluctance to see the darker side of ourselves. We as human beings are not good at that. If you see something that challenges your whole perception of life, you are afraid of looking into it," the 63-year-old tells us. Sharma, who grew up in a slum, related closely to the story: "You could see that the audience was quite taken aback because it really shook their beliefs. It was a good reminder that all is not well all the time. I'm very familiar with these kinds of differences. Not everything is available to you and you are kept away from certain privileges. It's foolish to say marginalised people don't exist. And you could see that on the audience's faces in theatres." However, the love he has received for the film outweighs the numbers game. He shares, "I get emotional sometimes because of the gestures people make from a distance. They touch their hearts looking at me, and nobody can write that kind of a compliment. It connects soul to soul and I am fortunate to experience that. That's the power of cinema, it makes people feel one. No money, no claps can compare to silent acceptance through people's hearts." Sharma also opens up about playing a man who briefly cross-dresses to dance. "I love dance, but I'm not a dancer. That was interesting to explore. I had just finished Monkey Man (2024), where I played a transgender person, so I worried about similarity," he says, adding, "But here, it's just one scene. He's not a cross-dresser; he just loves dancing as a girl. I realised I'll be able to explore another territory." Circling back to Dhadak 2, the actor feels that the limited support from the industry highlights Hindi cinema's reluctance to back socially relevant work. "It has suddenly become a lot about money. I understand money is important, because if people don't watch a film, how will you make another? But we also have to take challenges. Malayalam cinema is doing that and excelling. Marathi cinema, too. But Hindi cinema has no budget for actors like me or writers [for such films]. But I'm sure things will change," he ends....