Role Play

Lean and relaxed,Khan regaled the assembled scribes with anecdotes and occasional light-hearted comments. “I’ve been under media scrutiny since I was 19,and so you will have to excuse my spurts of anger. I’m 39 now,all grown up and patient,” he says.

Khan is eager to experiment with subjects,snoop around for variations and deliver memorable performances. “Romantic,thought-provoking,escapist or comedy,am game for any project,as long as it makes sense to me and at the box office,” he says. “As opportunities grow,my work develops. I am involved with a lot of things other than acting—there’s office,production,life in general. I have slowed down a bit to ensure everything is in place,” he adds.

The conversation obviously shifts to his ambitious project,Agent Vinod. “It is reminiscent of the detective thriller genres Indian cinema went through during the 1970s. We are reliving it,making Agent Vinod larger than life,” he says,adding how Kareena Kapoor plays a spy in a film that has been shot in Morocco,Europe,with its climax in Pakistan and Delhi.

Khan,who traverses the twin worlds of romantic comedies with Kunal Kolhi and Siddharth Anand and serious,dark Shakespearean reflections with Vishal Bhardwaj and Sriram Raghavan says,“I am conscious of what I choose. Sometimes roles are an extension of oneself,but then we do come across Omkaras,where they have to improvised and played in the mind,” he says.

Khan finds himself in control at this stage of his life,though there is always the occasional hiccup. “Controversies are a part of the game. They gathered steam when I got the National Award,and then the Padma Shri. I agree there are far more senior and deserving people and I try and live up to it too. But I don’t think what I got was undeserved. It was for my contribution to cinema.” Getting involved in the Indian Premier League is a no-no for it blurs the real focus — movies. His guitar,though has made way for kickboxing,the latter providing a more creative outlet.

Singh,meanwhile,is happy being in Sudhir Mishra’s camp. “Cinema to me is about performance,a creative release,” she says. Her latest role involves playing a musician in Mishra’s Dil Darbadar. “It is still a male dominated industry,however,and only audiences can change that perception,” she signs off.