A Crooked Game

How was it working with him?

Awesome; he’s always smiling and is like the sun giving solar energy to the world. He’s the driving force behind all of us actors.

The film has an ensemble cast and they all call you ‘guru’.

It has a great ensemble cast. There is Shreyas Talpade who is an astounding actor,Krishna Abhishek,Kay Kay Menon who understands cinema so well and,of course,Genelia D’Souza. The first thing I asked for when I came here was a treadmill,mats and a Swiss ball,so I don’t miss out on my workouts. Soon,everybody joined in. Since I started dishing out tips on fitness and diet,I became their guru.

Besides Mr Lad,Robin Sharma’s coach,you also trained in cricket with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. How was the experience?

He’s the world’s best cricketer so it couldn’t get better than that. He told me that when you hit out at a ball pick up the bat like you would an axe to chop wood. I value this piece of advice.

What expectations do you have from the film?

Hook Ya Crook will expand my range as an actor and help me reach the single-screen audience. It’s a big improvement over my first comedy,Garam Masala. I have also worked very hard on my dancing.

Tarun Mansukhani is supposedly making a sequel to Dostana. Are you excited about it?

Of course,Dostana made me realise that the audience wants to see me in commercial cinema. The sequel should be interesting as every person at Dharma Productions has his version of how the story should go forward. My version is that the two of us — Abhishek Bachchan and I — are settled down in America and meet again.

So it will be the two of you again in the sequel?

I consider Abhi as my most beautiful co-star and I don’t think he can live without me.

Are you really co-producing a film for your friend,ad-maker Sabal Shekawat?

Sabal is my favourite director and one of the most stylish ones. Way back,he gave me a break in the modelling industry with a soap ad. He also made the Coke ad with Aamir Khan. When he expressed a desire to direct a film,I immediately said I would back him. We will be making an action-thriller. Action is a genre I haven’t done before.

What about New York,your next release?

After the terror attacks in India and Sri Lanka,it’s a very topical film and Kabir Khan’s extensive research and method of tackling the subject has added to the film.

When will Aashayein release?

Hopefully,after New York.

What other projects will you be working on?

After Hook,I start work on Abbas Tyrewala’s 1-800-Love. I’ll start Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet when the script is ready. Then there’s Deven Khote’s Film City,which requires only 10 days of shooting as I only have a guest appearance. Watch out for Ram Sampath’s music in the film. It’s awesome.