"All my choices are an attempt to try new things"

I got a very positive response from Vajir (Singh) here himself. Oddly, the last time he messaged me and spoke at length like this was during Ek Villain. He was very sweet and gracious when he saw the film, so was everyone else. It always feels good when an actor gets messages and has encouraging things written for their performance. It means even more for this film because it is not a mainstream movie. It doesn't have any songs, any of the trappings of a commercial film; we didn't even promote it. We were all hoping that the film speaks for itself. I think we could afford to do that because the budget was very low and we had no pressure to recover the money at the box office. 

We didn't have to open at humungous numbers and recover the money. There was no question of producers not making money from the movie, which makes it easier for the actors. I am pretty happy with the response in terms of performance because I have no crutches in this film. There is only one costume that I wear throughout the movie; and there are barely any shots with make-up, except for the bruises which were necessary to make my face look battered. Most of my shots were indoors. So, if one enjoys the film, one can't enjoy it for anything but the performances. I think it was a good change for me to do a film like this and get the response I have received.

Yes, it did. In my head, I had thought that A Gentleman would be a bigger film, a bigger hit than it was, and I would do a character role in Ittefaq, something that was performance-based. But, sometimes, things don't go according to plan. So there was slightly more pressure before Ittefaq released, in terms of a quality product, a quality film. One should enjoy the picture, woh acchi picture hai ki nahi. That was more pressure than the film opening at a certain number or thinking about the business aspect.

We knew it had restrictions with the kind of film it was and also it was a smaller release in terms of the number of screens across India. My stress was more about the character I was playing. It is not a typical hero film. You only understand it once you watch the climax. It's not the easiest character to play because you cannot really improvise in these roles. You can only do as much as the writing helps you. I think the pressure was to convince people that there was this grey character which keeps switching between positive and negative, without giving away any spoilers. If they find that  convincing, if they like that as a film, then I think we got what we were hoping for. We are all very happy that people have given it such a positive review. 

That is one other kind of education. Itni padhai school-college mein nahi kari jitne numbers yahan log aapko batate hain. I think that happens organically, epecially in the last year or so when I realised that films don't go the way you want them to. Then you start questioning things, you start wanting to know what is happening, why is it happening, etc. I didn't understand the numbers game even when Ek Villain happened. I didn't understand the magnitude even when some people were excitedly calling me after looking at the numbers. I just didn't get it as it was only my third film. I didn't know what it meant to have it open with double figures on a Friday and make so much on a weekend. I said ki taarif kar rahen hai log, kaam pasand aa raha hai, I was happy with that.

Now I understand it better because when you realise it's not easy to get that number, your other films have not done as well, you start comparing and you want to know. I think there is a lot of hearsay. Meeting new people, maintaining and building relationships helps.

No, I don't. If I were to do that, I wouldn't have ended up doing a thriller-murder mystery without any trappings or sex or song-and-dance. The first thing I look for is whether or not I have done something like that in the past. I ask myself whether it would give me something new to do. I am aiming to improve myself, so I need to see if there is something interesting to do. That is the first reaction apart from the genre or what is working or what is not.

Interestingly, Abhay Chopra said in an interview to BOI that he had approached you for the same film a few years ago but it had not worked out then.

Yes, it was actually very funny. He had seen Hasee Toh Phasee and he really liked it. He had a script ready even then. I listened to the narration and I understood the film. Some changes were to be made at that time but I had already signed Ek Villain, which was again a greyish character. It was far more heroic and there was a love story involved. I didn't feel right to sign two films in a similar greyish kind of zone. Maybe, back then, I felt that thoda song-and-dance routine is important and that I should do a film that was a little happier. Back then, that was commercial but today the definition of that is also changing.

We don't know what is commercial and what is not. So I think more than commercial, I found the character very grey, very quiet and very intense. I didn't think it made sense to do it at that point. Also, at that point, only Abhay was involved. Red Chillies and Dharma Productions came on board later and, three years later, he called me up again and told me it was the same film, same script.

I had the narration once again and reacted the same way. I liked the punch. It was meant to be and it happened at the correct time. I think if it had happened then, my performance, how it has worked out today, the impact wouldn't have been the same. I am able to do scenes better today than when I was doing my third or fourth film.

Absolutely! In my past or when I was in college or even back in Delhi, I never had the opportunity to interact or get so up-close with someone about acting. There's so much you learn from actors who have done great work, who have technique. They have their little things for prep in each scene. Also, you see how they render it from the paper to what they do on screen. I have learnt a lot.

I think these are my pluses, to do roles like this, and I do these films because I get to share scenes with such people. I do not look at it from the point of view of being a hero or not, nor do I feel insecure; they are just great actors. They are my seniors, who are good at their job and that will only help me shape my career. When I get out of the film, I grow and absorb whatever these actors have done.

Yeah, absolutely, my family really reacts to that. They have reacted a lot to Ek Villain, and oddly to this one, to the intense roles and the angry ones. In certain scenes in Ittefaq, they reacted really well because they haven't seen me doing this kind of stuff or under these conditions. My family has a different take on it, because I had a regular middle-class upbringing, I would say. So, I have not ventured into that intense zone, crime scenes, or an angry scene, or lying about a murder or conspiring to do something.

I am enjoying this so much at this point in time. I feel I am learning on the job, doing a scene that I have no idea about or haven't done in the past. I have no idea how it is going to turn out. And if it does turn out well, you feel happy as an actor.

I was getting withdrawal symptoms because I was not confident about not promoting a film. I kept checking and there were two weeks off but I was just chilling, I went to a friend's wedding and a birthday party in Jaipur. I realised that nobody was calling me. It was quite a new experience for me, because I have never not promoted a film.

In hindsight, we can say that it was such a cool decision but, initially, it was a risk. Now it makes sense, because you cannot divulge a script beyond a point, about a murder mystery, and it doesn't have anything else to sell on it.