Is the process of promoting a film more strenuous than making it?

It definitely is! But it’s something that I have gradually grown to enjoy. At a certain level, promoting a film is like fighting a war! During our overseas tours, I have travelled from Mumbai to Dubai to New York to London and then back to Mumbai in five days! While on promotions, you are always jumping cities. You sleep when you get the chance… you eat when you get the chance. It’s a time when your regular routine goes for a toss. But then, promoting a film has now become as important as making one. So, no complaints!

Has it been a little smoother this time, zipping off to the promotions in your brand-new Ferrari?

Oh yeah! I finally got the delivery of my car and that’s what has been keeping me going. I spend the whole day travelling and doing interviews... meeting hundreds of people. But at the end of the day, just having my Ferrari around puts the smile back on my face.

Coming to your big Friday release, what was it about Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu that prompted you to sign on?

I have been integrally involved in the development of this film. Shakun (Batra, the director) and I know each other since Jaane Tu...(Ya Jaane Na). When he and Ayesha (Devitre, screenplay writer) were putting the screenplay together, I was around with my inputs. They bounced the early drafts off me and as the story started getting more polished, my interest in the film grew. So for me, the film was something that I helped put together and from Day One it was a project I knew I wanted to be a part of. I always felt that Shakun was a guy who was capable of making a good film. That’s what held us together.

How would you describe your character in the film?

Rahul is someone who you would meet on an everyday basis. I loved the fact that here was a guy who had a solid head on his shoulders and yet was impulsive enough to get married to a stranger one night!

Does all the talk about it being a remake of Ashton Kutcher-Cameron Diaz’s What Happens in Vegas unsettle or irritate you?

Such comparisons are totally baseless. Within the first 15 minutes you will realise that the two films are completely dissimilar. What Happens In Vegas was about two strangers who win a jackpot and then decide to pose as a married couple to keep the money for themselves and then spend the rest of the film trying to out-con each other. People have, unfortunately, just latched on to the idea of a guy and a girl getting drunk one night and getting married in Vegas. But such things have even happened in The Hangover and in so many other films set in Vegas.

You put Shakun Batra on to Karan Johar. Was he always your first choice as producer?

Karan was the first and only producer I approached. Shakun finished the screenplay of this film around the same time that we were wrapping up I Hate Luv Storys (Dharma Productions). I had developed a very good relationship with Karan by then and for Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, I needed someone like Karan who understands what’s the best way to put a film together and the best way to market it.

How was it sharing screen space with Kareena Kapoor for the first time?

Kareena is again someone that we always wanted to have on board because both Shakun and Ayesha are huge fans of hers and they had started writing the film with her in mind. When Karan picked up the script a year-and-a-half ago and approached Kareena, she was busy with Ra.One and for a while we felt that we wouldn’t get her. Karan asked Shakun for a second choice and we had no names because we hadn’t thought of anyone apart from Kareena! So we decided to wait a while and fortunately her calendar cleared up and she came on board.

At any point of time were you apprehensive that the age gap with Kareena (he is 29, she 31) would show on screen?

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t worried at all, but when the project was announced, there was all this talk about how we were an unlikely pair, how she was older and whether we would look weird on screen. Kareena, in fact, is just a year-and- a-half older than me. But I feel that ultimately if you fit into the character, people hardly notice things like age difference and all that. For example, if Aamir (Khan) can play a college student (in 3 Idiots), then I think it is possible for us to make people forget about our age.

You had a bumper 2011 with Delhi Belly and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. How are you approaching 2012?

I don’t really have a roadmap in mind because I don’t really know what’s going to turn up. I would have never thought that I would get offered an out-and-out rustic Haryanvi character (in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola). So I am just taking things as they come and fortunately it’s been good so far.

Are there any plans of teaming up with mamu Aamir Khan anytime soon?

Aamir and I have been very keen on doing something together, but we haven’t come across a good enough project. But yes, its something that is definitely being looked at.

You were very active on Twitter, till you deactivated your account suddenly. Any plans of getting back?

I deactivated my account a year-and-a-half ago because I found Twitter to be very intrusive. I really wasn’t happy about the kind of no-holds-barred access it allowed people into things that were personal to me. Anyone with an Internet connection or a mobile phone could log on and pass whatever comments they wanted and I wasn’t very happy with that. I know some of my colleagues love being on Twitter and they do a good job of it, but I am not comfortable with the medium.