'Sometimes it is boring to play the hero'

'I have never been scared of playing the grey, so it is exciting for me to come back to where I started.' 

Arjun Kapoor feels he was destined to be a part of Ek Villain Returns, the sequel to 2014 hit Ek Villain -- a film he could not do due to a prior commitment.

The Mohit Suri-directed action thriller features Kapoor alongside John Abraham, Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria.

The 2014 original had starred Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh.

At the trailer launch of Ek Villain Returns, Kapoor revealed he wanted to work with Suri on Ek Villain but could not.

"At that time, I was doing my father's film, Tevar, and I couldn't do Ek Villain. This time, when he (Suri) came to me, I said it is destiny. It was meant to be that I am a part of this film. I decided to not let it go," said the 37-year-old actor, who had just returned after celebrating his birthday in Paris with girlfriend Malaika Arora.

Kapoor said he has never been scared of playing grey characters in his career.

"From my first film, there have been enough shades in the kind of roles I have done, whether it is Aurangzeb or Ishqzaade. I have never been scared of playing the grey, so it is exciting for me to come back to where I started," he said.

"I have done Half Girlfriend with him (Mohit Suri), Ki And Ka, 2 States... I have done all sorts of films. I always wanted to go to the dark side and to do it in this kind of a set-up and script, which was good," he added.

Kapoor was all praise for Suri's way of presenting his villainous characters.

Giving the example of Murder 2, the actor said he was amazed by Prashant Narayanan's performance as the antagonist.

"When you have a director who can bring out that darkness and have a story, it is great. Every villain has an origin and a story that I found exciting. So the trust that I had in Mohit and the team, with the producer and having such an ensemble, for me it was a no brainer (to do Ek Villain Returns)," Kapoor added.

John Abraham said he was floored by the film's script.

"It has an unbelievable story. Mohit has executed it even better. It is fantastic," he said.

The 49-year–old actor, who has played unconventional characters in films like Dhoom, Jism and Shootout At Wadala, said Ek Villain Returns is kind of a 'homecoming' for him.

"When I first started with films like Jism, it was like a negative shade. Sometimes it is boring to play the hero and it is good to play something different," Abraham said. 

Produced by Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms and Bhushan Kumar's T-Series, Ek Villain Returns will release on July 29.