You have named your banner Chasing Ganesha. Are you a Ganesha devotee?
I love Ganesha, he’s the cutest God. He’s Shiva’s son and I am a Shiv bhakt. Ganesha is the remover of obstacles in your path so I thought it would be apt. Every time there is a release or some new project to launch we go chasing after him., so Chasing Ganesha.

Strangely, industry insiders insist that you would make a great action hero. Comment.
I agree with them totally! I really love action films and our next production is going to be the biggest action films of all times. I am listening to a couple of action scripts now.

How much has life changed after Rock On!!(RO)? Are you flooded with multi-crore deals finally?
It’s not about striking deals! Most important is that the film has touched people all across. The business deals happen in my office. I am proud of RO and I am top-of-the-moon about how it has been accepted. Now let me get on with life, read more scripts and do the films I am convinced about. i would really love to do Rock On 2.

The Last Lear director Rituparno Ghosh talks aplenty about how you blended into this different kind of cinema.
I have watched Rituda’s films and liked them, but I was intrigued about what went into his films and I felt excited about `getting under the skin of the character’. When he narrated The Last Lear to me in my apartment, I was completely floored with the brilliant writing. Mr Bachchan was his first and last choice for the role of Harry and I was to play Siddharth the filmmaker. Since Siddharth was supposed to be from Kolkata, I went to there - got onto trams, took photographs and wore a bandana to look like a hippie so that I wouldn’t be recognised. I wandered about to get the real vibe of Kolkata. I was keen to know how a director would feel about his city. Dressing for the part was very important for me, I wore Ritu da’s clothes and that worked very nicely.

How different is Ritu da’s filmmaking?
Every scene was done in one take, Ritu da would never call cut and there would be 3-4 cameras around us. I had never worked like that. We would rehearse a lot, the minute he would say “Action” we would enact our scenes from the beginning to the end, there was never a cut called! I learnt that first takes are the most natural ones. Even we fumbled we would cover up and carry on.

Your Bachchan experience?
This film has Mr Bachchan’s best performance. After Aankhen and Ek Ajnabee, this is our third film. We get along very well and our chemistry is palpable on -screen. My most memorable scenes with him are the first time we meet and then the pre-climax where he begs me to do a certain thing.

Have you finally made peace with Preity Zinta?
When I did Dil Hai Tumhara with her, we hardly knew each other and we didn’t get along. Thereafter we did a World Tour together and then we started meeting up just like friends. I told Ritu da that you have to take her in the film, she’s too good. Sure enough, she’s really brilliant in the film.

After the rock star in RO!!, what can your fans expect from a realistic venture like The Last Lear?
I do my work to the best of my ability and then leave it to people to judge it. It is a different film, made more with passion than commerce in mind. We made this film because we loved the script, the atmosphere and the people working in it. It’s a film made with heart.

What kind of roles are you looking at now?
I would do films that have good scripts, people who I can get along with and people who will put everything inthe film and something that will touch me. Any film I choose, the first thing I ask is would I watch it? If the answer is yes I would get into it.
For instance, Prakash Jha’s Rajniti in which I play a politician with a wonderful starcast - Ranbir Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai and Nana Patekar-is exciting because it is inspired by Mahabharat. Don 2 because the script has shaped up rather well. I finished shooting for EMI and I am currently shooting for Fox, a thriller.