A lone ranger

Bollywood buzz

He’s become a kind of poster-boy for romantic comedies, and this tag has not left him despite his experimentation with roles in Delhi Belly and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara. Imran Khan now returns after a good gap with Katti Batti, cast opposite the flavour of the season, Kangana Ranaut, and declares that it is one of his films that he is truly happy about and proud enough to show his illustrious uncle Aamir Khan.

“We are not the kind of family that celebrates every happening or film release and keeps telling each other that they are the best! We are free critics of each other and keep pointing out mistakes,” he says with a wide grins when we meet at Mehboob Studios. “Aamir introduced me in Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na and worked with me after a long time in Delhi Belly. And I have never spoken to him about my films or taken his opinion on any of them. But Katti Batti is a film that I do want to show him and ask his opinion on.”

Not another rom-com

Shedding light on a popular misconception about this film, he says, “Everyone feels that Katti Batti is a rom-com, but that is precisely what it is not! This is a film that begins where all rom-coms end. You have seen these films in which a girl and boy meet, fall in love and have fun, then a misunderstanding takes place and finally gets cleared and they live happily ever after. Now all that happens here as well — but before the film begins.”
He smiles and adds, “The film shows the end of a seven-year live-in relationship. In that period, Kangana’s character and mine have seen the not-so-pretty side of each other. So the question is: is love strong enough to withstand the ups and downs. Have we got the value systems in place to stay together?”

Though Imran identifies a lot with his character and the situations in the film, he confesses that he took a long time to accept the movie, as he did not understand the deep nuances of the script after reading it. “I troubled Nikhil (Advani, the director) a lot and he kept asking me for months if he could narrate the movie instead after I has turned it down. Finally, out of politeness, I asked him to come over the next day. And within 20 minutes I was asking myself, ‘Is this the same script that I read?’ The characters and their relationship were jumping out from the pages this time. I resonated with the script, realising that I had been in so many of the situations with my wife Avantika.”

Imran says that he finally apologised to Nikhil and admitted that he had missed the point and had not seen the script the way he had visualised it. “In fact,” says Imran, “I cannot imagine what any other director would have done with the same script — he might have treated it in the clichéd way I had imagined when I had read it. But Nikhil’s approach is much more honest and organic.”

Imran has done comparatively few films, so what are his criteria for signing films and what kind of films would he want to do now that so many of his films have bombed? “I do not think anyone can predict how a film will do,” he answers reasonably. “Everyone always thinks that his film will be a hit. For me, it is more about doing a film that I will enjoy working on, and during which I will have a good time with my associates. Look, an actor gives six to eight months of time to a film, often sacrificing family life. So, if I don’t enjoy the work and do not look forward to it, why am I doing it? That’s the only thing that matters. And then, no matter what PR does, it is the people who decide about the film and Friday changes things.”

Imran firmly believes that PR and everything that is a part of it counts for zilch. “The whole PR game has no connection at all with a film’s success,” he declares. “So far I have not found any producer to back me on this. But most people watch a trailer and decide whether to watch a film or not, not because of the things we do or the visits we make everywhere.”

He admits, “I must say that I chose a lot of films for reasons that were not entirely honest, but I did feel comfortable with my directors or co-stars even if those movies did not do too well, so, for example, I enjoyed working with Kareena Kapoor Khan and director Punit Malhotra in Gori Tere Pyaar Mein and Deepika Padukone in Break Ke Baad. Both my co-stars and directors liked and respected me, and so did I. So in that sense, my time did not go waste.”

The love for cinema

For Imran, success means leading life and working the way he wants to, and as he said before, waking up with a smile and going to sleep peacefully. “It’s never been about money,” he smiles. “Like, I wanted to do Katti Batti, which has been made on a tight budget that probably accounts only for a top star’s fees in a big setup!”

For him, stardom has also never meant being in the news all along, or working all the time. “As soon as this film’s shoot ended, I took off on a six-week holiday with my wife and daughter. And the day it releases, I will shut my phone and head to Germany,” he says.

This is also the reason Imran turned down Force 2, not because, as alleged, he was asked to play the villain. “They begin shooting two days after the release of Katti Batti. For me, that was inconceivable. I had once done two shifts, shooting Gori Tere Pyaar Mein by day and Once Upon... at night and I do not want that kind of experience again!”

Ideally, Imran loves to sit with his directors and co-actors on script readings. “We start to play out scenes and add all those little extra touches that we actors bring to the table. The director and DOP also figure out, say, what is not working even if it is exciting on paper. So we are completely ready on the day of the shoot.”

With Kangana, the process was as good as with anyone else. “Every actor’s creative process is different and there is no method that works for everyone,” he smiles. “It’s all about being honest to yourself and with each other.”

After Once Upon A Time... he had had a spat with producer Ekta Kapoor. “It was a natural difference of opinion and yes, we were katti with each other. Then we decided discuss our issues face to face and now we are batti!” Next film in the pipeline with the producer is Milan Talkies, which Imran calls a “sweeping, epic love story that pushes people to greater heights.”

Finally, his view on parenthood, now that Imara is more than a year old. “The first few months are the worst,” grins the actor. “We are always scared of holding her wrongly, or hurting her. Later, it is fascinating to see a personality emerging after three months that you gradually start loving more and more. Till then, all that babies do is sleep, eat and cry, but then they begin looking at you, picking out things in the room and so on. For those first few months as well as during the last months of Avantika’s pregnancy, I had decided that nothing will keep me away from my family, so I never did any films.”