This is the first time you’re playing a triple role, in Humshakals. What was that like?
Very tiring! In fact, it’s not really a triple role; it’s four roles. I play three male roles in the film and one female role, and the roles keep changing back and forth. Since Sajid (Khan) demands a high-energy comedy that is slapstick in nature, it is extremely tiring. I mean, you need a week to recover. But it was lots of fun.
It is also the first time you’re working with Esha Gupta, Tamannah and the rest of the cast. What was the camaraderie on the sets like?
It’s always refreshing, na, to work with new people. This is the most difficult kind of film for an actor because there is a certain nakedness required, a certain bravery required to just follow the director. The thing is, if you do it badly, you could end up looking like a complete fool and it will expose your lack of talent. But if you can pull it off well, you can be great. We will know that turned out only on Friday.
This is also the first time you are working with Sajid Khan but his last film didn’t perform well at the box office. Did you have any apprehensions about working with him?
Everyone is known by their last film. Ultimately, whatever you say, how you talk or whether people take you seriously is based on what you deliver at the box office. People who don’t make successful films cannot be taken seriously. But Humshakals is plumb in Sajid’s zone.
If people liked Housefull, that means comedy is his space, especially whacky comedy. He’s very intelligent. I love Sajid and we are similar in the sense that if we respect you, you will usually like us. But if we don’t like you, you will hate us. I am sure many people hate Sajid probably because he talks… he believes in confidence, he believes in belief, so he sometimes says too much. Things like, ‘My film is going to be outstanding and stuff’. And that comes across as arrogant. So he can sometimes rub people the wrong way.
I guess there was some negativity to counter but the point is, I think Himmatwala was a bad idea. It was a spoof on’80s films. I don’t think many people got it but it was a brave attempt and a well-executed idea. However, it wasn’t the most commercial idea. But his other films have all been very successful, haven’t they?
We haven’t seen you doing slapstick comedy in a long time. Was it a deliberate decision to do something in this space?
No, I am used to doing a certain kind of urban, romantic lead. That’s my kind of image and that’s fine. Then you try to be experimental and you do a film like Race, or films that are a little darker like Omkara. So there’s a certain perception of the things I can do. So, if I tell you that, as an actor, it is your job to come out of your comfort zone and get into an area that you feel is a little challenging, you would say, ‘Oh, you’re doing Being Cyrus, or even Omkara’.
These films did not run at the box office. It gave you respect but that’s the worrying thing… respect comes later. On Friday, there is no respect, people say, ‘Gayee picture.’ So why not get out of your comfort zone in a more commercial area? That’s what I was thinking. Instead of doing Cocktail and Go Goa Gone, I thought I would give it a shot with Sajid because he wants to make big, hit films. He doesn’t want to make niche films. That’s why I wanted to work with him.
Apart from Sajid, was there anything else about the subject that appealed to you?
With a film like this, it can only be the director; there is no subject. Even if there was a subject, it would change on the day of the shoot. He does what he likes; he chucks the scene and rewrites it. So if you work with him, you have to do whatever he wants. If he’s successful, he will have a lot of followers; if he fails, he will be on his own because when you work with him, you do it because you believe in him, not the script.
You will be working with him again. Was it you who made that choice?
I told him that I wanted to work with him again. I mean, hopefully, people will let us… if this film works. Ultimately, the fate of this film will decide that.
Apart from Sajid, you are also working with many other directors for the first time, like Reema Kagti and Kabir Khan. Was that a deliberate decision?
No, with both Reema and Kabir, we have missed working with each other earlier. Things just didn’t work out. Now Reema has got a wonderful script with complicated characters, flawed characters, who meet each other and complete each other.
Reema’s film is like a homecoming for you after more than a decade with Excel Entertainment.
(Laughs) God, you guys really have to look for angles for your stories, don’t you? I don’t see it like that. We have our own production house and Excel has its own ideas. I have the highest respect for Farhan, Ritesh and Excel.
Do you think you have evolved as an actor?
Of course I have evolved. When I do ads, I nail it. In fact, on a good day, I ask the ad filmmaker, ‘How long you want this shot?’ He says, ‘Four seconds’, and I do it for him. Not everybody is talented. You see, when you work with an average actor, you tear your hair out. If it’s someone who can do it, it’s great.
You picked a film like Bullett Raja. What do you think went wrong with it?
I don’t know! I mean, Tigmanshu Dhulia… I love him and we love Deep Purple. So we really got along well. He’s an artist, a smart guy. Paan Singh Tomar is a lovely movie. His films have a certain range and Bullett Raja is in that range. I was hoping to add as a star, something magical that would double the numbers but that didn’t happen. I think people value their money in India. We’re not a very rich country, where movie-goers can afford to watch every single film that releases. Films need to hold out some promise. Maybe, with this film, they felt they didn’t want to watch this combination. I don’t know. But I loved the role and I really wanted to play this character. People in my production say, ‘You didn’t look good in the film.’ ‘You didn’t act very well in the film.’ But I thought I really looked good and I acted really well! (Laughs)
As a producer, you usually choose to make slightly off beat films…
(Cuts in) Yeah, we are only offbeat, na! (Laughs)
Our sensibilities are a little mixed up. We are a little Western in our thinking and there’s a mix of Eastern stuff too. Very successful people in the industry capture the spirit by being the right person at the right time. We are not that right person at the right time. But we are enough to make an interesting living. Life is about that too.
What is the kind of involvement you have in films produced by Illuminati?
I am not involved in every film but when I am involved in a film, I am completely immersed in it. It’s nice to sometimes get out of the way to not annoy people. When it comes to deciding which films to make, we convene a meeting, discuss the film and then I say, ‘Ok, this is the film that I want to make.’ Usually, they agree with me. Fortunately or unfortunately, I like films like Agent Vinod, not the film that we made, but the idea of Agent Vinod; the idea of Go Goa Gone; the idea of Being Cyrus. I have now started liking rom-coms and love stories but, instinctively, is to watch something like a Star Wars. But if I have to produce successful films, I have to listen to other people because the young, hip, love story vibe of a film is not the kind of film I normally watch. But I love to do them.
You will be launching Kareena Kapoor’s cousin Armaan Jain in Lekar Hum Deewana Dil. It is also the first film under your banner in which you haven’t acted.
When you’re a production house, you have to make films with other people. There are so many young people foraying into films today. As a production house, we should cash in on that wave. I think a lot of production houses have got a shot in the arm because of new talent. Suddenly, production houses are becoming strong again. During our time, almost all actors were becoming producers. So production houses were finding it hard to deal with us. Now suddenly they have got 20 new people to work with. So even we should cash in on it and exploit them. We should make good films while also working with young new talent.
You are also playing a lot of different roles.
I am also understanding my place as an entertainer a little better now. I am now more confident of what I can do and can’t do. I don’t think there’s that much one can’t do. Some things come easier.
Is Race 3 going on the floors?
I hope so. I have romantic notions that they should get the best writer and write the most kickass screenplay so that people say, ‘Oh, my god! What a story!’ It shouldn’t be like the third, tired instalment in the franchise. The trailer should be, like, ‘Wow! What was that!’ It should just start with a ‘3’ sign!