Disappearing act

About the recently released film he says,“Usually a month before the release,I’m a bunch of nerves. This time,we downplayed the publicity and I spent this month learning so much in the interiors that I had absolutely no time to be nervous. But now I’m back and that months worth of nervousness has hit me in a single day” he smiles weakly.

Khan turned 44 this year but plays a 20-year-old in the film. He insists it wasn’t his idea. “I told Raju that there is no way I can pull this off. But he insisted since he saw a lot of me in Rancho. The character is free-spirited,energetic yet very shy,he’s a non-conformist and lives life on his terms. I was kind of flattered so I agreed to play the part,” he says.

But after playing a bulky,in-your-face hero in Ghajini,did it take some time to fit into Rancho’s body and mind? “I was on an extremely strict diet. I played an unbelievable amount of badminton and I stopped all weight-training. Even during the shoot,I had to try my best to look small,I had to be slightly hunchbacked and literally shrink my body by stooping low,” says the actor,who famously prepares for months to get into characters.

We’ve all heard about his Internet interactions with youngsters. “I did do that purely to see how today’s youth thinks and talks. The Internet gave me anonymity,” he says. “The thinking is just the same; just the technology and medium of communication have changed,” he insists.