‘It’s cheesy but marriage makes you feel like a man’ 26 Feb 2011 | 484 Views | admin
Forty days after his high-profile marriage to Ms Richie Rich Avantika Malik, Imran has managed a day off. Right this minute he is a ghar jamai because his own bungalow is under renovation. Comfortable in his ma-inlaw’s plush, sea-side apartment, Bollywood’s blue-chip boy gets candid about everyone who has touched his life in the last few days.
How is marriage treating you?
• I don’t know. I haven’t had the time to spend time with Avantika. Today is the first free day I have had since I got back from the wedding. We had the last function on January 17. 18th was the travel date and from 19th onwards I’ve been shooting. It is a really hectic time since I’m rushing to finish two films.
Is your bride not complaining?
• Eight-and-a-half years into the relationship she knows how I am.
Has marriage changed anything at all?
• I don’t know how to say this without sounding cheesy. Somewhere something clicks and you feel, ‘okay now I am a man’. Something happens. My feelings for Avantika were always the same. My closeness to her family is the same. Right now, you and I, are sitting in her mother’s house. Yet within a couple of days after the wedding, something clicked and I felt ‘I’m responsible for this person.’
What happens to the romance after marriage?
• I’m not one for the classic notions of romance. I’m a great believer in the bricks and mortar of a relationship which is completely unglamorous. But it is this that actually holds your relationship together. The sweet romantic gestures are plaster and paint on the wall.
Surely you don’t take Avantika for granted!
• It is quite the opposite. Now I am working harder to keep her happy. I must tell that while I was in the US, she was also in fashion school there. We lived together for over a year in Los Angeles. That is the time when we ironed out all the kinks. For example, at the end of the day, I take my clothes off and leave them in a pile on the floor. And she has learnt to deal with that.
Talking of work, you are currently envied by every Bollywood hero because of your films with the two desirable women — Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif. How does it feel?
• When you are on set you don’t really think of your co-actresses as just being desirable or gorgeous. I admit that Kat and Bebo are the two top female stars in the country. But on set, that thought fades away. And it is just about the work you are doing. I found Katrina to be a very chilled out person. You can hang out with her. Kareena, on the other hand, has an ethereal quality about her. She reminds me of a classic movie star.
Compared to many others in Bollywood, you have a squeaky clean, boring image? Do you agree that bad boys are a lot more interesting?
• There is a certain charm and mystique attached to the bad boys. However, people like the good boys also. There is this saying that girls initially start liking the bad boys, and then they grow up and like the good boys. When I was 14, girls had no time for me. They were hanging out with the bad boys. However, when I was 20 and into a committed relationship, I found women checking me out. It is almost like they felt ‘this guy is loyal and good husband material.’
Finally, what is the equation between Ranbir and you?
• We are cool. We are friends and we dine with each other whenever we can. However, people will continue to compare us and talk of the rivalry between us because that is the nature of the business. I don’t foresee that ever changing.
"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
