Grilled Salmon? Any other fish? Is this a local fish and is it boneless? Superb, but is it a solo dish? Will steamed rice be there? Okay, make it Chicken Burger and this!” It’s not every day that you come across actors who look super sorted and interested while ordering food. “Sorry, food first!” smiled the Paani da rang man when t2 caught him in his suite at The Park, a few hours before his performance at Saturday Club’s NYE party with The Telegraph.

Okay, that’s a lot of food... how famished are you?!

I am always hungry… (laughs). I live to eat and for me I think after food comes acting and singing, in that order. My comfort food is home-made Punjabi food but I of course explore... like I love machher jhol, I have a 
terrible sweet tooth and I am obsessed with Bengali sweets. I can finish one full matka of rasogolla. 

You are just not giving us a cliched reply, are you?

No no honestly, I have a crazy sweet tooth! There is this Punjabi delicacy called Pinni made of flour, ghee and gur combined together with dry fruits and I love it even without the dry fruits. My mom sends at least 5kg of Pinni every winter from Chandigarh to Mumbai.

Coming to your song Yahin hoon main with Yami Gautam… you both got back after three years, how was it working together? 

Especially the chemistry…Aah! Recently I had tweeted that have I studied organic chemistry? Yes, but I understood 
organic chemistry with Yami because the chemistry was so organic! (Laughs) See, we are childhood buddies and family friends, in fact my first internship was with Yami’s dad, where I did a documentary on the Punjabi Sufi poet Bulleh Shah, and he had directed that. So the chemistry shows as we are comfortable with each other. We are always smiling and giggling so it looks like innocent 
romance blossoming there. Having said that, she was my wife’s (Tahira) junior in school! (Laughs) 

Food, music, football... are three very Calcutta things; do you relate to all three?

I was never really into soccer. I have played district-level cricket but not soccer. So, food and music I relate to very much here... but then I know the two clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. There was Mohun Bagan’s mention in Vicky Donor as well. Shoojitda (Sircar) loves football more than cinema! And then my brother (Aparshakti) loves football and when I was shooting for Vicky Donor, Shoojitda and my brother used to play football every day! 

Talking about Shoojit Sircar, what’s the update on the movie both of you were supposed to do?

See, he takes his time with the script and till the time he is completely happy with his script he will not go ahead with it. So he is still working out a perfect script. As of now I am set to shoot for Manmarziyan (produced by Aanand L Rai and directed by Sameer Sharma) with Bhumi (Pednekar).

How excited are you to shoot with the all-new Bhumi?

You know they are the same people (smiles). Both are fine, with different characters, it’s the same person and they are amazing! In Dum Laga Ke Haisha, she was of course overweight but with a lot of soul and so intelligent, she was the Alpha woman. Coming together with her again is a lot of fun as it’s a reinvention of both of us. This is the first time, being a Punjabi, I will be shooting in Punjab and Bhumi is Maharashtrian so it will be very challenging for her to pick up the Punjabi accent. 

In Dum Laga Ke Haisha, your character had a lot of insecurities. While doing the movie, did you confront any of your insecurities? 

The thing is the movie was one of its kind as both the characters were underdogs and it worked out pretty well. This was the first time I played an insecure character, in fact he was quite despicable in the first half and in the second half he becomes endearing…

So, what are your insecurities?

I used to have a lot of insecurities as a kid. I was very skinny, I had braces as I had crazy teeth, and then I had spectacles. So, you see every kind of insecurity was there, I was actually an underdog and nobody expected me to be the typical hero type! (Laughs)

You are here in Calcutta for work this time, but what would your ideal NYE look like?

This is my second 31st night in Calcutta. I think most of the actors work on 31st because they are performing (chuckles). See I am not really a party person but I would rather prefer going for a jam session at a house party or go for a play or a movie or a drive.

Which was the last movie you watched?

Bajirao Mastani!

So, Bajirao  Mastani or Dilwale?
Now you can’t do this! See, I am a die-hard Shah Rukh fan but at the same time I feel that Ranveer (Singh) is one of the brightest contemporaries around. So, you can’t compare these films…

That’s so politically correct…

I have to be! (Laughs out loud)

You are really into Dubsmash; the last one for Salman Khan’s birthday was so cool…

Honestly I was quite late with Dubsmash as I always thought actors and singers should not endorse Dubsmash because they can act themselves, so why do they have to lip-sync? 

A dialogue or song you would like to lip-sync to?

Umm, Dev (Anand) saab and Dilip Kumar saab’s… In Guide, there are many dialogues and songs. I love Tere ghar ke saamne, Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar…Dilip saab would be…(starts humming) Suhana safar aur yeh...

We loved your Ghar aaja pardesi Dubsmash with Ranveer for Arjun Kapoor. What prompted you guys to do that?!

(Smiles) It was completely impromptu. We were walking for a fashion event and Arjun was shooting for Khatron Ke Khiladi (in Argentina). So we were backstage waiting for our turn to go on the ramp and Ranveer was like, ‘Chal yaar, Dubsmash karte hain! Arjun ko bulate hain, tu bhi saath mein kar’ (laughs). So I joined in and it was so much fun! 

So there’s a lot of bromance in the air!

The thing is we all are from Yash Raj so we almost meet each other every week, as we see each other in the office or exchange our managers… like she (points at his managerJasmine) is working with Anushka Sharma…(smiles). It’s like one happy family, so a lot of bromance happens at the Yash Raj studios.

But who do you hang out with?

When it comes to hanging out I have no friends in the industry, in the sense I don’t hang out with people from the industry. No celeb. I am closest to Shoojit Sircar and Aditya Chopra, they are also like my mentors and I can open up with them. I can ask them anything about my career, take advice from them, and be vulnerable and confident at the same time with them.

There are many celebs who have refrained from joining social media due to privacy issues or they feel it will diminish the star factor… you being so active, what’s your take?

I think as it is people know everything about you in this day and age, it is difficult to be a superstar because of course that mystery that used to be there about an actor has gone. There was no yellow journalistic TV journalism… but now with the social media, you are everywhere. So even if you are not there on social media, people know about you. Of course actors on social media promote their films, tell their fans where they are… although it might not be real time. Personally I mostly endorse random tweets on random thoughts, about life or generation observations.

What other apps you are into? Snapchat?

Am quite active on social media but actors should not be on Snapchat (laughs). You have Instagram, so why Snapchat?

You have always been a stylish man [“very retro shades worn just like one of the journalists in the movie Argo” is how he describes the eyewear he is sporting during the t2 chat] so which is that one trend you are done with and one trend you would like to wear now?

I think we have gone back to the ’60s with the slim-fit trousers, bow ties, the hairdos women are endorsing these days, the vintage shoes… but I do not know if I will be comfortable wearing those boot-cut pants at this point of time. But am sure five years down the line this trend will be back. I think I have overdone bow ties but I still love them and I have a huge collection. Wherever I go I pick up one. 

Being a singer, which artistes do you like to listen to?

I like Sufi music. I love The Dewarists and Coke Studio unplugged sessions, and apart from that I love Shafqat Amanat Ali, Kishore Kumar and Mohd. Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan saab, Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan. Among contemporaries, I think Arijit Singh has got amazing texture, Sukhwinder Singh I think is trained for patiala gaana and is brilliant on stage.

And in international artistes, I like Coldplay, Vertical Horizon, love Maroon 5 and I think Justin Bieber has reinvented himself with his latest album. What Do You Mean? has been brilliantly programmed…. I was in Singapore recently, where I attended concerts by Maroon 5, Pharrell Williams and Skrillex! Adele is very good too, she is like this pure artiste who doesn’t endorse anything else but just the music. She does not need to do any frills of the industry, she is a pure singer and her voice is amazing.

A song you are totally hooked to?

There are many yaar, like Maps and Sugar by Maroon 5 to A Sky Full Of Stars (Coldplay), What Do You Mean? (Justin Bieber), Hello… (Adele) but I am done with Lean On (Major Lazer & DJ Snake) by the way! (Laughs) 

Pramita Ghosh
Pictures: Pabitra Das
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