‘I’m thankful that I’m still getting good work’

“I’m very charged up about life and want to do a lot of good work. Thankfully, I’m still getting it,” he says with characteristic nonchalance.

There are other things that Dutt is contemplating. Promoting boxing is one, ever since Vijender Singh got home a bronze from Beijing. Trying his hand in politics is also on his wish list, but that will happen, he says, when the work pressure is less.

‘Kidnap’, a high-action drama, has him essaying the role of a multi-millionaire whose daughter is held for ransom. The role is special for Dutt because it is for the first time that he is playing father to a teenage girl, close to his daughter’s age, one of the reasons he was considered for the role. “Sanjay Gadhvi saw me with my daughter Trishala on a show and said he could think of no one but me to play the part. There are times in a person’s life when all the money in the world can be of no use. Working in this intense drama between a father and a daughter was an emotional experience for me. I also enjoyed working with Imran Khan whom I found to be a very confident actor,” says Dutt.

The actor hotly denies that relations between him and his daughter are strained because of his marriage to Manyata. “Trishala was with us in the Bahamas when I was shooting for Blue, and even otherwise we are on the Net everyday. She is studying forensic sciences and just the other day she called to say that there was a body with a bullet in the head lying in front of her. She was so cool about it, but it really blew my mind,” he smiles indulgently.