Demon King

“Fans will be pleased that I have lost my baby fat,” he says before talking about the diet and exercise regimen he has been on for the past six months. “Looking the part is 50 per cent of an actor’s job. I am not bothered about the fact that I play the villain of the film,as long as I am accepted for my acting ability,” he says,adding that shedding the extra kilos was easy since he does not have a craving for food.

He is half-way through the shooting of the film which is scheduled for release in October. This is his third project with Ratnam after Yuva in 2004 and Guru in 2007. “Maniji brings out the best in an actor. His characters have meat in them. He instilled a feeling of confidence in me when I did Yuva. In Guru,that confidence grew and it showed on screen,” says Bachchan. Ratnam also brings Bachchan back together with Aishwarya,something that Junior B looks upon as a perk of the job.

Given that Bachchan’s last outing as a mythological hero failed,are there any apprehensions about Ravana? “Drona and Ravana are not in the same league,” he answers,before confessing that the failure of Drona continues to haunt him. “You make a film because you believe in it. Then you leave it up to the audience to accept it. Or not.

If it does not work,you analyse what went wrong and then move on,” he says.

Do we see him again with Amitabh Bachchan? There’s a film called Paa in the pipeline opposite his father,is all he will say. Right now,he is concentrating his brawn on bringing alive the demon king.