Courting lady luck

T-shirt paired with denims and funky checkered shoes,Kumar immediately enchants his audience as he quotes The Joker from The Dark Knight,“Why so serious?” The duo brought their contrasting personalities to the same table—while Kumar was his subdued self,Khan was lively and humourous.

Living up to his reputation,Khan had everyone in splits as he started to talk about his association of over 25 years with the actor. “In 1984,when Akshay had just returned from Thailand was still Rajiv,he had a serious demeanor and a thin moustache and would fill petrol worth only Rs 4 in his bike. He used go to the same discotheques I used to visit. Back then,no one used to talk to him except me,” he recounted. The filmmaker,who has worked with Kumar in both his films,added on a serious note,“Once a judge dropped out of the fashion show I was hosting and producing in my college and I replaced him with Akshay. He had had one release but I introduced him on stage as the superstar. But I am glad that what I said in jest in 1990 has come true today.”

Kumar,talking about his character in the film,revealed that it is his most unusual one since he plays a “loser”. He said,“I play a guy who is terribly unlucky in life. He can’t keep any job except as a cooler at a casino where he supposedly balances out the lucky players’ winning streaks with his bad luck. The film is about this man’s hunt for lady luck in the form of the right woman.” This is when the three women—Deepika Padukone,Lara Dutta and Jiah Khan—enter the picture. “His luck is such that he has three wives and two girlfriends in the film but he gets none,” added Khan.

Like his character,Kumar is a firm believer in lady luck. “I live in a house full of them—my mom,sister,mother-in-law and my wife,whose entry in my life turned my luck around.”

Despite his image as an action hero,Kumar managed to break the mould and established himself as the King of Comedy with Hera Pheri. “I didn’t know till then that I had a comic streak in me. Priyadarshan,Rajkumar Santoshi and Neeraj Vohra helped me discover it.”

The 43-year-old confesses that today,he prefers the genre to action and drama. Khan feels that doing comedy films has changed the actor and helped him “open up”. He observes that a decade ago,Kumar may not have been able to address a crowd like he was doing now.

While most of the funny lines came from the director,Kumar too,in his subtle and inimitable style,matched him. When asked why he hasn’t experimented with a dance show on television,he was quick to remark,“I think I do more of aerobics than dance. An aerobics DVD would be a better idea.” In the same spirit,he confessed that despite his daredevil image he is scared of his wife,Twinkle.

The session came a full circle as the duo ended it by addressing the topic of luck and superstitions in the film industry. Kumar spoke about filmmakers’ obsession about avoiding “unlucky” actors,pairs or locations,which he personally doesn’t believe in. And Khan concluded by saying,“There is nothing lucky or unlucky. A good and entertaining film always works at the box office no matter what.”

For detailed transcript catch the next issue of Screen