They have stopped screening Mangal Pandey ? The Rising at Ballia claiming that the film should have been shot there since Mangal Pandey was supposedly born there?

Yes, yes, I have read all of that. See, there?s no record on where he?s come from. People of Faziabad have also claimed that he was from there. All we know is that Mangal Pandey was a part of the Barrackpore cantonment and since the film is about the last six months of his life and not his childhood, we only needed to shoot there. We didn?t even shoot there (Barrackpore) since the logistics didn?t support the idea.

My director Ketan Mehta and art director Nitin Desai went there and shot videos of the place. I saw the photographs too. We had to build sets? so we did that in and around Mumbai.

But yes, I would like to respect their sentiments and I am ready to accept that he was born in Ballia if they do find some evidence. And if they do see the film, they will only feel more proud and happy with the way Mangal Pandey has been projected.

But in all the Mangal Pandey pictures and paintings, there is no evidence of long hair?

See for someone like Gandhi we know what he looked like. For Mangal Pandey, there is no authenticity about his look. Most of his pictures have him wearing a pagdi. So we had that option of the long hair. The second option was having him with a choti, since he was a Brahmin, a religious person.

I found the character to be very reactive, very hot-blooded. He gets angry, he flares up. He is kind of a wild guy. That?s the feel I got of the character. So I thought with the long hair and moustache, it would enhance the wildness of the character and bring that quality of wildness? Hair blowing in the wind and all. Even with the long hair, I did tie a choti. In all the scenes, there?s one lock of hair that I tie as a choti. You don?t always see it. Since there?s so much hair, woh itna dikhta nahin hai?

How was it, sporting all that hair for all those months?

(Laughs) Oh? it was difficult? it was good also. I had grown fond of it. I miss the moustache. I also miss my goatee. Bidding goodbye is always difficult since I am close to all my characters.

How come your hairdos become such a craze?

Now I have long hair and I believe Shah Rukh and Hrithik are also growing their hair (laughs).

Back to the film, is it very important to be true to the character when you play a man from history?

It?s extremely important for me to become the character. People must see Mangal Pandey on screen, they should not see Aamir Khan. That for me is my real success if it happens?

Did you want to project Mangal as a metaphor for independence?

The courage that he shows in questioning himself is what for me makes him a real hero. To the extent that in the hospital scene, just before he dies, he says: ?Today I have come to realise that it was not about the grease incident only. Today I have also realised that while I am wanting equality and freedom I am not ready to give it to Nansook. Until yesterday, I considered him to be achhoot (untouchable).?

He realises his own flaw and only when he does that the character becomes heroic for me. That scene for me is the scene where he becomes a true hero.

If you look at the historical evidence, Mangal did not beat up 50 people or defeat an army. That?s not where his heroism lies. His heroism lies in the fact that he is willing to take on the Company and die for it and say: ?Ok, hang me. If you hang me I know what will happen and I want people to know that it?s begun. It?s rising and nothing can stop it now.?

There are subtle hints of the Company raj in 1857 being like the US domination today?

See, in the film, Mangal Pandey can?t make a reference to what?s gonna happen 150 years later. But for viewers, I am hoping what happened to me when I read the script will happen. I found, arey yaar, yeh to abhi bhi ho raha hai? That?s the connection I found when I read the script. It?s happening today, all around us.

Today, America is the superpower economically exploiting different countries and yet having peacekeeping forces in different countries. The East India Army had exactly that? They had peacekeeping forces for Nizam, the Maratha king? Tipu (Sultan) never listened to them, they fought with him once, they lost. They fought a second time, they lost. The third time they took the Nizam?s army and went ? 1,10,000 were Nizam?s army, only 20,000 were British. That?s how they defeated Tipu.

These political overtones of the film are resonating today. I certainly hope the people see the similarity in the film and it causes a debate at the very least.

Are you happy with the way the script has been translated on screen?

We have made a film that we believed in. I think it?s a very unusual kind of a film for mainstream cinema. I have always felt that. But that?s a challenge for me ? to make something unusual acceptable to a wide audience. By and large we have succeeded in telling the story that we wanted to tell and I am happy about that.

Do you know Amitabh Bachchan was offered the role of Mangal Pandey 20 years ago?

Yes, I heard that. At that time, 1987-88, none of my films had released and I didn?t have a hit to my name. I have no special take on Mr Bachchan doing the role. He is an accomplished artiste. I like his work apart from that of Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor? In the West, I like Harrison Ford a lot.

Mangal Pandey got such a big opening in Locarno. Are you happy with all the attention on Indian cinema?

Indian cinema is getting more and more global. In the West, people are turning their attention to mainstream Indian cinema. Lagaan was the first step and, I think, The Rising is trying to make that a second step. In the UK, we have received very good reviews for the film. Let?s see how the response of the audience is abroad. We?ll get to know soon.

When everyone?s going foreign, Aamir Khan has stuck to Indian cinema. Is that the game plan?

Quite frankly, I don?t have any game plan. As a creative person, as an artiste, I move towards material that excites me, which I want to be part of. That material can be inside India, which it has been till now. It can even be outside of India, it can be a Chinese film which requires an Indian actor. The material should excite me, the director should excite me, then I can do the film, no matter in which part of the world it?s being made.

Over the last four years, I have received more than 60-70 scripts for international projects and some of them were quite known names who have approached me with their films. But I didn?t like any of the scripts till now. For me, it?s not a question of doing a Hollywood film. I could have done that two years ago. That I am not interested in doing.

Which projects are you working on currently?

Apart from Rang De Basanti, there?s Kunal Kohli?s Fanaa where I am acting opposite Kajol. She is a very good actress and we haven?t had the fortune of acting opposite each other (they did do Ishq together, but weren?t paired). Then there?s Vishal Bharadwaj?s film and there?s my home production.

That?s a lot, considering you have done just one film in the last four years?

Every eight months or so there should be a release of mine now. I will still be doing one film at a time and there will be a gap of three to four months between shoots.