Irrfan in Killer and (top) with Saroj Khan in Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota

Two releases on the same Friday. That?s a first for you?

Very much. Pehle mujhe bhi ajeeb lag raha tha. Then I saw the positive side of it. Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota and The Killer are two completely different films. Yun Hota? is a very fresh film by Naseersaab. Bahut alag si hai, aisi film parde pe dekhi nahin gayee hai. Killer, on the other hand, is a mass-oriented film. One is for the multiplexes, the other for the standalone theatres.

Let?s start with Yun Hota?. Naseeruddin Shah told us that he wrote the script with you in mind. That?s a big compliment?

See, casting is done keeping in mind the similarities in look of a person with a particular character. But Naseersaab?s in-depth understanding of the character is something that you can?t see on the surface level. Uski alag hi ek duniya hai. I may look the part but the character is completely different from me and I had to keep exploring it to get nearer to Naseersaab?s vision.

What is your character in the film?

My character is a little odd. I am a stockbroker coming from a Muslim family, which itself is not very common. Then my mother (Saroj Khan) is like a godmother. She is not connected to the underworld but woh logon ke faisle karwati hai. I am this grown-up man who is still looking for a mother figure in his lover. So I get attracted to this older lady (Suhasini Mulay) and fall madly in love with her. His love is too pure, very naive. He has complete dedication towards the relationship and believes in it strongly. But she is a modern woman and has different priorities. That?s something that doesn?t register with him. He is also addicted to coke (cocaine). So, this woman turns out to be his pleasure and ultimately his tragedy.

How was the Naseeruddin Shah experience?

We worked together briefly in Maqbool. I have always wanted to work with him. After working with him in Yun Hota? I would rate him very highly as a director. He is telling a story with a vision, with an understanding of life itself. He is making a film because he feels strongly about the theme. There?s great insight into the project. It was a very difficult script for a first-time director. Four different stories and there was nothing conventional about it. And frankly I was concerned ki picture kaisi banegi. But it?s turned out fantastic, something that will move you.

Are you happy with your contribution to the film?

I didn?t like myself in the film. Lots of my scenes were chopped off and my particular story doesn?t flow properly. So it was a kind of setback for me but I am sure it was done keeping in mind the larger scheme of things.

Did he act out the scenes for you?

He never told us how to do it but he kept telling us to probe more into our characters. He would tell me: ?You could have been thinking like this.? He has so many options. Being an actor himself, he loves actors and his perspective is no different. He knows where actors are being lazy. With Sarojji it was a teacher-student relationship. For her it was a guru-shishya parampara ? sets pe dekhnewali cheez thi. Just like a sincere bachcha, she would do her homework on her character. And the results show. She is fantastic. You haven?t seen something like this before. Initially you may not grasp the four stories running parallel but then you get hooked to it.

Coming to Killer, you are playing Tom Cruise?

(Laughs) I haven?t seen Collateral and really don?t know what he?s done. See, let?s be realistic about this. Tom Cruise ke jootein ke price se hamari film ban jaati. We finished the film in 30 days. Killer is a quick, small film. It is humourous rather than gory. It?s more about one-liners, you know, masses ke liye. There?s no under-current, no (deeper) meanings.

How do you manage to adapt to these two diametrically opposite schools of acting?

For a role like the one in Killer, main apne hisaab se karta hoon. The demands from the director are different. The idea here is to amuse people rather than search for the character. It?s more of a performance than creating a truth. I am comfortable with both styles, I have got habituated now, doing different things. I just go by the script. You have to have different approaches to different films. If I start probing like I did for Yun Hota? for a film like Killer, it just won?t work.

Which other films are you doing?

There?s Deadline with Konkona and a film named Tulsi with Manisha Koirala.