The Exchanges

Q Does that change? I hear so many people in marriages, how the, how your partner is with your family is a game changer. I've heard this from so many people.

A I think so, no. It's because you love your family, and another person who is an outsider is loving your family the way you love your family, and that's something which, even though if, even if it's not real, you know, even if it's an effort, it's still an effort. Because that kind of effort is not easy, you know. And to continue doing it, uh, it's very rare that everything just falls into place, no? Everyone just gets along. So it's always an effort. Um, my mother and Alia have a very good relationship. Uh, they're very honest with each other. More honest than I am with my mother, Alia is with my mother. And, uh, that makes me very happy, you know, because surrounded by women. My mother, my sister, my sister's daughter, now, Alia, Raha, and they're just the best women in the world. It's a lot of female energy around.

AI assessment note: “I think so, no. It's because you love your family”

Q So you finished college in New York. And then?

A Then I came back, like I said, my father said, too much attention, go back, do something. You're too young. I was, Must be like, 20, 21. Spent another year there, trying to come back. When I came back, every director in the film industry wanted to launch me. But I was a big fan of Sanjay Lila Bansali. And I'm like, every director wants to work with me, why isn't Sanjay Lila Bansali offering me a movie? So I was like, maybe he's not aware of me. So I went, made a resume, and sat outside his office. Didn't tell him who I was, but I waited. He was not there. I left the resume. I went home. He called me the next day, and he, of course, reading my name, understood who I was, and I told him I'm a big fan. Devdas had just released at that time, and I loved Devdas. Alhamdulillah, chikai sanam. Big fan of that film. And the first day when he met me, he said that, I want to make a film with you. And so that was, ambition was achieved right there. Uh, but that one year or one and a half years I spent assisting on Black, uh, with Mr. Bansali, was actually the biggest film school of my life. Uh, because A, he was a very hard taskmaster. We were working 14:15 hours a day. Uh, we were, um, I, there were 10 other assistants, and because I was who I was. I was not, um, some special kid. You know, I was like everybody, and he was, um, he was very short-tempered, so we used to, like, face a lot o…

AI assessment note: “Then I came back, like I said, my father said, too much attention”

Q If you had to do it all over again, would you?

A A hundred percent. The kind of, um, see, I was kind of stagnating and hitting a saturation point in my career. I was called the next superstar for a very long time. And I, I'm not saying I'm a superstar today, unless you don't have that continuous, uh, uh, blockbuster films, you can't be called a superstar. Uh, but I think Animal, what it did is, it was the correct film at the right time. Uh, To kind of just at least take another step up. Otherwise, I've been kind of flatlined in the same status. So that was very important for me, for my confidence. It was very important for me to kind of change, you know, shift from a boy to a man in some ways.

AI assessment note: “A hundred percent. The kind of, um, see, I was kind of stagnating”

Q What does it mean to be a superstar? Like what, when you go somewhere and you see the reaction that you get, What does it do? Not the superficial thought, but deep, deep down, what does it do for you? And what will happen if it goes away?

A Of course, it's the greatest feeling in the world, you know, and you get love. You're receiving love. You're receiving love from people who you don't know. You know, they look at you, and they smile at you, and their eyes light up, and that feeling is amazing, but I can't get too attached to it, and this, of course, I've realized very early on, because I grew up in a film family, and I've seen so much of successful people, but at the same time, I've seen so many failures. My family has generations of Successful actors and failed actors. So I know why the people failed. I studied it, you know, from a very young age. I was noticing everything. I was noticing my father that he didn't like getting bothered. And if a fan came to ask him for an autograph or a picture, he very rudely turned to them and said, no, I'm not interested in doing that. And I always sitting on the other side of the table looked at that fan's face and that fans used to look at my father with so much of disdain and disappointment. That I was like, listen, I, I don't, I don't think I have the ability to say no to somebody. If somebody wants to take a picture with me or take an autograph, I'll be more than happy to do it. So I don't take this job for granted. I know what success is. I know what failure is. I'm very balanced about it. I've, anyways, the person I am, the person I am, I've never felt an extreme high…

AI assessment note: “it's the greatest feeling in the world, you know, and you get love.”

Q Who do you think if you were to categorize somebody as competition you really look up to in Bollywood, who would it be?

A Uh, so my age group are below me, right? I wouldn't say the Khans or anything like that. Um, though when I started, I was like, Amitabha is my competition, why should I say? You know, the new guys. Um, they're such fine actors. I like Vicky Kaushal's work a lot. Ranveer Singh. Um, yeah, you know, it's, it's the opportunity and the film, I've realized that. You know, you have a, an actor which you don't quite appreciate right now, but him in a right film at the right time will just change it for you. Uh, but as of right now, two actors that I really like is Vicky Kaushal. Ranveer Singh. Uh, and I like Karthik also. You know, I think Karthik has something very charming on screen. You know, he's got a charming personality.

AI assessment note: “two actors that I really like is Vicky Kaushal. Ranveer Singh.”

Q How did you know you want to be an actor?

A I don't think I ever, there was a day where I said, I want to be an actor. I think because you are a star kid, so there is so much of attention. See, the thing is in school, if you get attention from a girl, you feel like, oh, I can be an actor. I mean, it starts there, you know, the confidence comes in. Then being from the family that I come from, it was taken for granted. But I, like, I remember whenever I used to do like dramatics in school, I was not really good. I was not, I was never selected. Um, I was an introvert. I still am. Um, I was very good in football. So football gave me a purpose. It gave me a sense of, um, okay, I, I'm decent at something. I was, I was below average in everything.

AI assessment note: “I don't think I ever, there was a day where I said”