Saqib Saleem who has largely done light-hearted roles is all set to make his debut in the horror genre with his next ‘Dobaara’. The movie is an official adaptation of the Hollywood film Oculus and has Saqib sharing screen space with his real life sibling Huma Qureshi for the very first time.

In the film, Saqib plays a a character who for 12 years is kept in a juvenile prison under false accusations. This boy doesn’t speak much and though he talks very little, he does express well in those few words.

Saqib in real life is a happy-go-lucky, mischievous guy, so in order to adapt to this character he spent a great deal of time to research and work on his understanding of the character. In order to understand the pain the character went through, Saqib isolated himself from everyone by locking himself in his house for days. This isolation helped him understand the pain of the character and perform even better.

When quizzed about his prep, Saqib said, “Empathy is important when you are an actor..empathy for the character you’re playing. The experience helped me be true to Kabir, the character. But it also scared me at a human level that it’s so difficult to just be comfortable with one’s self. It helped me understand myself also better.”