You had a huge success in The Dirty Picture. But instead of leveraging that, you are doing a small-budget, low-on-publicity film like Chaar Din Ki Chandni…

I have always believed in doing all kinds of films. You never know which character and which film will click and what role will take you where. For me, no film is big or small, no film is a no-no if it has a good script and my character makes sense. Even the biggest banners can make the worst films and most often, some really good films get made on shoestring budgets. There is no set formula at the box office. I thought Chaar Din Ki Chandni was a good film to be part of because I really liked my character and secondly, it’s directed by Samir Karnik who made Yamla Pagla Deewana, which was one of the biggest hits of 2011.

You had told us last year that you would look at doing roles other than comedy. But Chaar Din Ki Chandni is again a loud comedy…

This is more a romance than a comedy. My character is a very hero-hero kind of guy, but the situations that he finds himself in are mostly always comical. I started my career playing a romantic hero (in Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai) and so it’s nothing really new for me. I know that I have got my maximum success in comedy films, but romance is something that I am also very comfortable with.

What the audience is taking back from the film is that one song where you dance like your dad Jeetendra!

Chandni was my favourite film and for a large part of my younger days, I was totally in love with the title song. So, to dance to my favourite song and that too with the steps that have been synonymous with my dad was a lot of fun. It went off really well and I just had to let go and enjoy the song. A lot of people have been asking me whether Dad liked me copying his steps, but he has not told me anything specific about the song. I think he’s just too embarrassed to comment on something of his own (laughs).

After The Dirty Picture, have things changed for you in terms of the offers you are getting now?

The offers were always coming in… even after all my flop films. I signed Chaar Din Ki Chandni last year after having two dismal flops in a row. I haven’t had to struggle for films that much, ever… but things have definitely become better after The Dirty Picture. Of course, Vidya (Balan) benefited the most… she even won the National Award… but all of us, whether it was me or Emraan (Hashmi) or the other actors have got a lot from the film. There is a lot of interest in the audience around everyone who has been a part of The Dirty Picture. It worked universally and clicked both with the masses and the discerning movie-goers. Plus, it won so many awards… there wasn’t a single best actress award that didn’t come Vidya’s way.

But you were the only actor in the film who drew flak...

That’s part and parcel of the business… the profession that I am in. If there are some critics who didn’t like me in the film, there are so many in the audience who came up to me personally and said how much they loved my character. And I don’t really allow myself to get bogged down by all this because, ultimately, the film as a whole has been loved and accepted. The audience liking my film ranks above everything else.

Do you have a role to play in Balaji Telefilms handled by your mother Shobha and sister Ekta?

All the decisions at Balaji are taken by Ekta and her team… I don’t really figure anywhere (laughs). At times Ekta asks for my opinion regarding certain casting decisions and business matters, but that’s it. Balaji is completely Ekta’s baby and that’s how we would like it to remain. As a brother, I am always there for her.

You have quite a few films coming up this year…

There is Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum and I have just signed Shootout at Wadala. Shootout at Wadala is not really a sequel to Shootout at Lokhandwala. The film is about the first-ever police encounter that took place in Mumbai’s history. It’s an out-and-out action film and I play a small-time gangster who slowly becomes very important in the larger scheme of things. And then there is Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum which is completely diverse… it’s a sex comedy. So, for all those people who say that Tusshar Kapoor does the same kind of films, my next two releases are proof enough that I am ready to try out everything!