I  am always happy to speak to someone who’s called Priyanka!” When an interview starts on such a note, well.... Almost a year after his last film Great Grand Masti, Vivek Oberoi — whose wife is named Priyanka — returns on screen this Friday with Bank Chor. The Yash Raj production, directed by Bumpy, has Vivek in the role of a cop with buddy Riteish Deshmukh playing the “bank chor”. A t2 chat with Vivek on films, family and reliving the memories of Saathiya.

First up, we must tell you that the trailer of Bank Chor is hilarious!

Thank you! Whenever Riteish and I have worked together, over the last decade or so, the expectation has been that we will do something naughty… naughty in the naughty sense! With Bank Chor, we want to make it clear that this is a full-on family film. It’s proper Yash Raj space, even though it’s quirky, but it doesn’t have any innuendo-laden humour. But when we sat with the end product, we realised that besides families, this is also going to be a fun film for the youth. The humour, the edge, the energy… is very young. When they watch the trailer, a lot of people are catching on to the fact that while there is all this madness in the bank with the chors Champak (Riteish), Genda (Vikram Thapa) and Gulab (Bhuvan Arora), there is also the super cop Amjad Khan (played by Vivek), who keeps saying, ‘Kuch aur ho raha hai!’ That’s the play in the film… it’s not just a comedy, it’s a comic thriller. The idea was to be fun, to be self-effacing, to make a spoof of yourself… that’s the flavour of the film.

How would you describe Amjad Khan? It was fun watching that bit in the trailer where he’s described as “Gareebon ka Singham!”

(Laughs) I had a lot of fun with that too! Amjad Khan has power, and he has the confidence of competence. He knows he’s bloody good at his job. And he’s someone who’s in it for everybody, not just for himself. He’s someone who breaks the rules, has no respect for hierarchy… he’s a crazy kind of cop.

It’s kind of funny because everyone’s saying that I always play a gangster and Riteish said something funny the other day about me… that in this film, I’m playing a cop like a gangster! (Laughs)

Did Riteish and you continue your ‘masti’ on the sets of this film too?

Riteish and Genelia (wife) are like my extended family. We are very fond of each other. As actors, we have this magical chemistry and comic timing. On set, it’s a blast… especially when the cameras are off! In this film, what was interesting is that we had a new dynamic to explore — in Bank Chor, our characters are against each other, and not with each other. Since he and I have great chemistry, we often work in taking things beyond the script. When you have that comfort which is without ego and insecurity, you do it for the film… not for yourselves.

And was there any daddy talk on set since both of you are young fathers?

All the time! We’ve actually done things back-to-back — both of us got married at almost the same time, our first kids happened quite close… we were both pregnant with our second baby at the same time… the wives were hanging out together. I used to give advice to Riteish and he would advise Aftab (Shivdasani) who got married to Nin (Dusanjh) at the same time. It was hysterical! Honestly, the conversations between Riteish and me are about the small shifts in life… like I ask Riteish, ‘How are you telling people you won’t work on Sundays?’ I don’t work on Sundays anymore and I learnt that from him. Like today is Sunday and I just spent a long morning feeding my kids (Vivaan, 4, and Ameyaa, 2), playing with them and reading stories to them. When you become a father, you realise these are things that matter the most.

Your kids are still very young, but do they have a sense of what you do?

I think they do, primarily because of how people react to me when we go out. I try to do a lot of holidays with the kids within India… I want them to see our country. On these holidays, people come up for pictures and my kids realise that there’s something different about our dad. But my wife is very careful about insulating them and making them grow up like normal kids. They’ve been taught to be respectful of everyone, whether it’s a cook or a driver or a maid.

It just seems yesterday when I watched Saathiya for the first time and I still rewatch it every time it’s on TV. Fifteen years later, what are your best memories of working on that film?

Aah, it was a trip, man! Saathiya was shot pretty much parallel to Company (his debut film). I hadn’t had a release till then and nobody knew who I was. I was literally part of the crew and I would carry tripods and film equipment with the crew. I had been an assistant on sets for years and would naturally reach out to help. Everybody was like family on set — Shaad (Ali, the director) I knew since we were both three-four years old, we went to kindergarten together.

A lot of Saathiya was shot at train stations and people wouldn’t pay any attention to us. Only on the days Rani (Mukerji) was shooting, people would go ‘Rani Mukerji! Rani Mukerji!’ Rani was a star, no one knew me.

Then in April 2002, Company released and on that weekend, we had to shoot on the tracks close to Gaiety-Galaxy theatre (in Mumbai). Around midday, four-five people came and started calling me ‘Chandu Bhai’ (his character in Company)… they didn’t know my name. In an hour, a few thousand people had gathered, the tracks were blocked, they had to evacuate me and put me in a make-up van…. we had to call for cops. I was so worried that the shoot would be cancelled because Saathiya was made on such a tight budget. I was still thinking like an AD (assistant director)!

Then Shaad came in and hugged me and said, ‘Tu toh star bann gaya, yaar!’ And I will not forget that moment, it was such a defining moment for me. I walked out and the crowd let me go only when I said the ‘Khallas’ dialogue a couple of times… it was so surreal, going from a nobody to a star in just a few hours.

You do so much for charity. Is a stint in public life on the radar anytime?

(Laughs) A lot of people ask me this. In 2014, I was given an offer to contest the Parliamentary elections. I spoke to the powers-that-be, but I felt I wasn’t cut out for active politics. I like to keep things real and sometimes, you have to toe a party line or turn a blind eye to stuff that’s inappropriate. That doesn’t work for me. I know politics is a very powerful tool and I consider Narendra Bhai (Modi) a man with a deep vision, but I don’t think it’s for me. I have a relationship with almost every political party and I have always received support for my humanitarian work across party lines. Initially, people were wary of what agenda I had behind this work, but now they realise it’s selfless and it’s to set an example for my children to follow. 

Priyanka Roy