Weight & watch

You’ve been the favourite punching bag of media. Why don’t you ever react to the rumours?
There’s a very beautiful line in Kishore Kumar’s song: Kuch to log kahenge,logon ka kaam hai kehena. It’s people’s job to talk and meddle in others’ businesses. I want my work to do all the talking and don’t think I need to react to someone’s figment of imagination.

But how about all the rumours linking you to your co-stars?
I take all those rumours as compliments.Pardon me for being immodest but if you say my acting — my chemistry — makes you feel I am really in love,I think I am doing good work. If good chemistry translates into an alleged affair then so be it; I welcome it all.

But the success of Airtel ads implies that you and Madhavan should at least have an easy camaraderie going.
What works for Airtel ads is the believable script and the director Vinil Matthew who comes from the Malayalam school of filmmaking. Everything about him is subtle from the word go.

But while Madhavan and I are friends,we’re not best friends.

Who are your best friends?
Sanjay Dutt,Arshad Warsi and Raima Sen. They’re all very good friends.

Your film with Warsi,Ishqiya,should release soon. What other projects are you working on?
I am shooting for R Balakrishnan’s Pa currently. I loved Balki’s Cheeni Kum. And I’m extremely excited about Ishqiya too. After Parineeta,I’ve put in this much effort only in Ishqiya. I’d sleep by 11 pm — which I hadn’t done since college days — because it was mentally exhausting. When the script was brought to me,I instinctively knew I had to do this movie.

So you go by instinct when selecting movies?
Instinct is the ultimate. When I hear a narration,there’s something called the blink theory that comes into play — you instantly know whether or not you’ll do the movie. But otherwise,I consider factors like the story,my role,my faith in and rapport with director and the banner.

What happens if these movies don’t translate into box office successes?
It isn’t the end of the world. There is invariably a reason why a movie won’t work. It may have a fantastic story but maybe there’s a lazy bunch of people working on it. The permutation and combination of factors has to work and I firmly believe that good cinema always works.