He loves eating anything that’s dripping with ghee. She loves listening to ‘non-veg’ (read, naughty) jokes. Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur — in town on Thursday evening for a brief stopover to promote their January 22 film Airlift — revealed all this, and more, in a free- wheeling chat with t2. Here’s how the conversation went with AK and NK in the presidential suite of Hyatt Regency…

Calcutta is your third stop of the day! Haven’t you taken the title of your film a little too seriously?!

(Both Akshay and Nimrat break into peals of laughter)

Nimrat Kaur: Come to think of it, that’s a really good way of putting it. More power to our film! (Smiles)

Akshay Kumar: Actually, it would have been two cities — Kanpur and Calcutta — but we couldn’t land in Kanpur because of dense fog and so we had to land in Lucknow and motor it down to Kanpur which is roughly an hour-long drive (shakes his head and smiles). So, as you can see, we’ve had an adventure-filled, travel-filled and action-packed day… which is what Airlift is, na? Usko kya kehte hain? (Pauses) Perfect brand fit!

Nimrat: But honestly, I would rather have a day like this than a day where I have nothing to do… touchwood! And I am just loving this bit about going around the country and talking, especially when it comes to Airlift, because it’s a film that I am so proud of.

Airlift tells a true story, but not one that many people know about. How important was it to make this story known to the world? 

Akshay: When I first heard the story, I was completely shocked that I hadn’t ever heard of something as big and as history-altering as this. Once I heard the story, I only wanted to make the film first. Then, it became a task to tell people: ‘Hey guys, take out your iPads and computers… type this in and see how it happened’…. It was such an impossible kind of operation… so hush-hush… and yet India got together to ensure that we were able to bring back our citizens from war-torn Iraq. It’s an entry in the Guinness World Records… an evacuation of such a scale hasn’t ever happened before or since. It’s been a tough task to make this film and that’s why we don’t mind even travelling to five cities a day to talk about Airlift! It’s an important film in my career… just for the fact that it tells such an effective and emotional story.

Nimrat: I consider myself as someone who is generally aware of things that happen, but I was really shocked to read the script. I actually went back to check whether this genuinely happened and whether so many people had actually been airlifted… and I saw that every word written in that script was true. 

There are many shots in the teaser and trailer that give us goosebumps… was it the same for you too while shooting the film?

Nimrat: Oh, all the time! There were those moments when I would step out of a scene and think about all those people who went through that ordeal in real. Just two or three days ago, Akshay and I watched the film with the crew and the last 20 minutes literally give you goosebumps all through. You want to applaud every scene and every moment… it’s that kind of a film. It’s a film that needed to be made in these cynical times, especially where we tend to focus on what’s not going right… well here’s something that we can be really proud of and take inspiration from (smiles).

[Akshay has been fiddling on his phone all this while. He turns his iPhone 6 around to show us what he’s been Googling: details about the Gulf War operation that forms the focus of Airlift]

Akshay: Here, read what the Guinness (World Records) site says. ‘About 22,000 Indians were evacuated in the world’s largest airlift… never attempted by any country in the world’. I will forward you the links to some articles. Read them… they are very interesting (smiles).

Nimrat: Only a handful of people were aware of this… it never came out in the newspapers. And even if it did, it was a small mention on the sixth or seventh page. And both our characters (Ranjit and Amrita Katyal) are actual people who went through this… all the names in the film have been fictionalised, but the situations are all real.

Did the two of you know each other from before or was the ice broken on set? We just heard you speaking to each other in Punjabi…

Nimrat: (Laughs) That was actually the real icebreaker… and then on, we got along like a house on fire. Before this, we didn’t know each other, actually… we had a chance meeting two years ago and then the first time we met after that was at the first reading of the (Airlift) script.

Akshay: Language and food… all Punjabis bond on these two things and that’s what we bonded on too. Khao te galla karo! (Both Akshay and Nimrat laugh out loud)

So what was it like on set? Sharing each other’s dabbas?

Nimrat: Eating each other’s head! (Laughs)

Akshay: Both of us love anything that’s dripping with ghee.

Nimrat: Oh right, just look at him (points towards AK’s lean frame). You think he ever has anything remotely like ghee and stuff?!

Akshay: Jhooth mat bol! Dopahar ko kya khaa ke aayi bataa…

Nimrat: I’m talking about you! He ate one cucumber… and he was like: ‘Oh my god, I have over-eaten!’

Akshay: Liar!

Don’t you feel guilty eating with him around?

Nimrat: All the time! I am eating my cupcakes and he’s having a cucumber! (Laughs)

Akshay: Chal ab toh sach bol de…

Nimrat: No honestly, today we hogged! We were in Kanpur and we had this home-cooked meal and we couldn’t stop eating. We were so sad when we had to finish and leave and continue with the rest of the day (smiles).

And yet the two of you look like this!

Nimrat: He looks like this all the time! I have my not-so-flattering days too (rolls her eyes and smiles).

Every co-star who works with Akshay has one story at least about his discipline and punctuality…

Nimrat: I have loads! That’s why he’s  got here and looks the way he looks and why he is the way he is… there’s so much to learn from him. For 25 years, this man hasn’t wavered from his daily routine… that’s the kind of positivity and discipline he has. See, he’s falling asleep because he doesn’t like me talking about how good a guy he is! (Playfully pokes Akshay’s elbow as he pretends to pass out on the table) No, but honestly, this man is as good as they come… great guy, superb gentleman and an inspiration for all.

Akshay, what did you discover about Nimrat during Airlift that we don’t know of?

Akshay: I always knew she’s a great actress. Even in this film, the best scene belongs to her (smiles)…

Nimrat: He’s too kind.

Akshay: And what’s that one thing no one knows about her? (Thinks) Oh, she loves ‘non-veg’ jokes!

Nimrat: Thank you very much, Akshay! I will get some 10,000 marriage proposals tomorrow….

Akshay: All 10,000 will propose with a non-veg joke each! (Laughs)

Nimrat: No, no please… I am getting married very soon! (Pauses) Hey, don’t write that… it’s a joke! (Laughs)

Your Twitter feed will be spammed with non-veg jokes now!

Nimrat: Yeah, yeah… I love reading them! Oh god, I hope my mother never reads this interview…

Akshay: What’s wrong with hearing a non-veg joke? A joke is a joke

Nimrat: Nothing’s wrong… but it’s not that I run after people saying: ‘Aur sunao… ek non-veg joke suna do please!’ (Laughs)

Akshay: Tere ko iss baare mein open hona chahiye… achha lagta hai toh lagta hai… that’s a good thing.

Nimrat, are your screen choices very conscious in terms of keeping them off the beaten track and yet being commercial and popular, Homeland and Airlift...

Nimrat: Not really, ya. It’s just part chance, part choice. You don’t really decide what comes your way. Ideally, I would have liked to pick up something between Homeland and Airlift, but…. Anyway, I love watching all kinds of cinema. I have grown up on the typical Bollywood films as well as world cinema. I am still in the nascent stages of my career… this is just my second film and I hope I get to do at least one film in every genre… and also make some new genres along the way… before my time is up (smiles).

Do you have a favourite Akshay Kumar film?

Nimrat: (Thinks) Oh god, I have watched so many of his films… I think Hera Pheri.

Akshay: Really?

Nimrat: Ya, why do you seem so disappointed?!

Akshay: Na, na… I like Hera Pheri too.

Akshay, you have apparently watched The Lunchbox more than once?

Akshay: I have watched it twice… once before knowing her and then after knowing her.

And did you react differently to her performance the second time around?

Akshay: No, no…

Nimrat: You didn’t?!

Akshay: Nope.

Nimrat: He probably fell asleep the second time! (Laughs)

[As we get up to leave, Akshay says: ‘Make sure you send Nimrat some non-veg jokes on Twitter!’
To which Nimrat says: ‘DM (direct message) me, okay?! Wouldn’t want the world to read them too!’ (Laughs)]    
 

I think Nimrat loving ‘non-veg’ jokes makes her cool because.... Tell t2@abp.in