MUMBAI — Of all the newcomers this year, he has easily been one of the most successful and the most qualified for the title of the New Heartthrob. After a hit debut in uncle Aamir Khan’s production “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na” (which completes the consolidation of the chocolate hero’s comeback to cinema after Shahid Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor), Imran Khan has turned ‘nasty’ with his kidnapper turn in his second film, Sanjay Gadhvi’s “Kidnap”.
We meet up at the production office of Shree Asthavinayak Cine Vision, having missed a meeting when his debut film’s PR mechanism sidelined India-West. Imran is friendly, but not as overtly so as a Harman Baweja. Neither is he as shy as Ranbir Kapoor nor as intense as Neil Nitin Mukesh. But his answers come with an engaging openness.
Excerpts from an interview:
Q: How does it feel to be accepted so widely?
A: To be honest, I left for the South Africa shoot of “Luck”, my next film directed by Soham Shah, and was away for two months. I just got back Sept. 12, so I missed all the after-effects of the film’s success. All the reports that I got were in South Africa at second- or third-hand. At work there, I was only a new actor and our unit wasn’t overtly impressed by labels like “latest heartthrob” or “teenage idol” or whatever!
Q: What is “Luck” all about?
A: I’d rather not talk about it now. Soham, who directed “Kaal,” is making the film for Shree Asthavinayak again. Mithun Chakraborty, Danny Denzongpa and Ravi Kissen, all very senior artists, are my co-stars.
Q: And have you a career strategy in place?
A: No, not at all. I cannot plan, and nor can any actor here, I think. You just have to take one thing at a time. I want to do good films. I do not want to do films for money alone. Because my first film was a hit, I have turned down more money than I will earn in a lifetime.
Q: Is it better for a newcomer to start off with a hit and face the risk of not living up to expectations, or begin with a flop and then start moving up?
A: I don’t think it makes much difference either way. If your debut film is a flop, maybe there will be less choices and chances of good roles initially and you will be offered less money. But basically I think that the audience must just like something about you. That can take you through. Most heroes in the last one year have started off with flops but have succeeded because they have that special quality.
Q: True – Neil, Ranbir and Harman are examples of this. But isn’t it very daring to accept a negative role this early, though Neil, Shah Rukh Khan and some others have done it too?
A: I would not call my role a negative one. Life’s not all in black and white, or about strict rights and wrongs. “Kidnap” questions your views on morality. I wanted to do the film because it has a great, tight script. I liked the idea of stretching and challenging myself as an actor and improving myself. It was a character far removed from me, and maybe that’s what made it interesting.
Q: It is said that you never planned to become an actor.
A: That’s true. I went to train at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles because I wanted to be a writer-director. When I came back, Abbas Tyrewala saw me and thought that I would be the perfect choice for the role. Frankly, besides not planning to act, I also thought that actors had to be great dancers and of the muscular types, both of which I was not. But there was nothing specific happening for me then as a writer-director, so I thought that I should try out acting. In fact, one of the scripts I took to someone was slyly reworked and used for a television serial! (Smiles ruefully)
Q: And what did your uncle have to say about Abbas’s choice?
A: Actually, Aamir came in later. When I signed the film, someone else was producing it, but they opted out because of some financial hiccups. Abbas and I were stuck and that’s when my uncle came in. He said that he did not think that I could act, but then remembered that it was exactly what everyone had said about him when he started out. So he screen-tested me and was convinced.
Q: What does he think of you now as an actor?
A: After he saw “Jaane Tu…” he found me “Okay.” But he liked my work in “Kidnap” and complimented me for a good job!
Q: Will you take on writing and direction immediately?
A: No, for the time being I want to act. I was definitely uncomfortable about the song-and-dance routine and now I am gradually getting into the Hindi film groove.
Q: Is being trained at the NYFA in L.A., in a different kind of sensibility, a pro or a con for you as a Hindi film actor, even beyond songs and dances?
A: I don’t think there can ever be a downside to knowledge about anything. I had a better understanding about my part and the technicalities, like shooting scenes out-of-sequence and in a disjointed way and also shooting a telephone conversation sequence where there was nobody on the other side.
Q: And what do you think of Hindi cinema today?
A: Fresh things are happening. “Rock On!!” and “A Wednesday” are examples of the variety along with “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na”.
Q: But your debut film was a cleverly-written old-style formula film.
A: Abbas deliberately wanted every famous cliché in Hindi cinema included in the film, he wanted a new take on the formula, but made to look very fresh. It was a great piece of complicated writing that was mistaken for being very simplistic.
"As actors, we all want our audience to like our work; so even if you ask me this question after five years I will say yes I want to work harder and harder to be loved by my audience."
~ Imran Khan
