Kambakkht Ishq is your seventh film with Akshay Kumar...

I love to work with Akshay Kumar because I’ve known him since I was in school. I remember, he gave his first shot as an actor for Deedar (sister Karisma was his heroine) when I was nine years old… and now I’m working with him. Today, he is one of India’s biggest superstars. His struggle and Karisma’s have gone hand in hand. We enjoy working with each other, because it feels like he is part of the family.

Akshay is 40-plus and still so fit...

He is India’s true action star; and I really wish that he remains at the top.

You want to see Akshay Kumar at the top. Then what about Saif?

Saif is at the top already!

What do you play in Kambakkht Ishq?

My character, Simrita, is a feminist. She does not believe in love, she is against men. The reason why she does not like men and why she doesn’t want to be in a relationship is well established in the film. What happens next and how she falls in love forms the rest of the hilarious film.

How different is Simrita from Kareena?

Very different. Simrita is a feminist but I’m not. Simrita is a tough nut to crack but I’m not. Simrita is quite insensitive in the first half but I’m not. However, that’s the whole fun of acting — we play roles different from our real-life personality.

You have a hard-hitting dialogue which goes: “Men want only one thing...”

Don’t you think so? Lagta toh 90 per cent aise hi hain na? When you watch the film you’ll realise that.

Your look in the film is different...

I’ve got lots of messages from people about my look and it feels nice. Aki Narula is the stylist for this film. We’ve shopped in Milan and Rome for the costumes of Kambakkht Ishq... so they are very different, the kind which you won’t find in a regular Hindi film. We have gone for a very understated classic and chic look.

We’ve heard you had an array of shoes to choose from?

Yes. I’m totally fascinated by shoes. On any given day, in my shooting van, I had like 60 pairs of shoes and sandals to choose from.

After you went size zero for Tashan, does this role also demand something physically challenging from you?

Well, Tashan was nice and different but tiring because I had to maintain a figure, which sent the nation into a tizzy! I challenged myself to change my body type and challenged my genes and went ahead and did something which no one expected. In Kambakkht Ishq, however, the girl needed to be voluptuous and fuller. She needed to be more fashion conscious. I will change myself according to whatever role I am doing.

How would you define the experience of shooting with Hollywood stars?

I loved working in Los Angeles. We had beautiful weather and we got to work with a Hollywood crew, what more can we ask for? I’ve only done one scene with Denise Richards and two scenes with Sylvester Stallone. They are as normal as normal can be.

What was the best compliment you received from Sylvester Stallone?

The fact that I got to sit with him, interact with him and learn something from a hero, who is like a father figure, is more than what you can ask for. For me, that was my compliment.

We’ve heard that Saif didn’t like you wearing a bikini in Tashan and a swim suit in Kambakkht Ishq...

People don’t wear jeans and go swimming, do they?