SHAH RUKH VERSUS SHAH RUKH

Technically, the film is far superior to anything you’ve seen before. Previously, double roles were shot with the help of the masking technique but in Duplicate we have used computerised special effects. It was very challenging to shoot the double role scenes because each shot had to be completed in ten minutes flat! So I had to change everything — from make-up to costumes — and enact both characters in less than a quarter of an hour.

Duplicate is specially targeted towards children
Though Duplicate is a film the whole family can enjoy, we have made the film specially for children. The mood of the film is like a comic book. All the artistes were instructed to act uninhibitedly, like children, and enjoy every scene. Juhi, Sonali Bendre, Gulshan Grover and I did precisely that. Also, since the film was targeted specially towards children, we saw to it that there wasn’t unnecessary anger, gruesome murders and bloodshed. Even though Mannu commits a murder and rape, the crimes are treated lightly, humourously. The whole film is a laugh-riot.

The director of the film is Mahesh Bhatt, not me
There are rumours that I have directed the film. The rumours are completely baseless and unfounded. This is a Mahesh Bhatt film all the way. It is he who has conceived each and every scene and directed them. Such rumours had surfaced previously too, when he worked with Aamir. But I know there is not a grain of truth in them. It is true that he gives his artistes a lot of freedom but that doesn’t mean that the film is directed by them!

I had worked with Bhatt sahab earlier in Chaahat, and now in Duplicate. And from what I’ve observed he’s better with comedies rather than action specials, emotional melodramas or romantic films for which he is known. I think he has never worked so hard on a film, as he has worked on Duplicate. From the first frame to the last, the film belongs to him. Bhatt sahab explained every shot to us by enacting the whole sequence with dialogue. This is something he hadn’t done during Chaahat. I must say he was brilliant. So funny! Frankly, he was ten times better than the actors.

Yes, I have directed the film's promos...
Though I have nothing to do with Duplicate’s direction, I have directed its promos, because Bhatt sahab had to go somewhere else due to urgent work. But even then we showed him the story board, and took all his suggestions. He had also dropped in on the sets for a couple of hours. Before this I had also directed the promos of Yes Boss and I am happy that people have liked them. But I have no intentions of turning to full-fledged direction in the near future.

I liked playing Mannu, but now I find Babloo better
When we were shooting for the film, I used to like playing Mannu because I had never played such a character in the past. He isn’t a romantic villain. It is the kind of role Amrish Puri and the other bad men would play. I may not be as good as they are but I have tried to play the role convincingly. Right from the beginning we had decided that Mannu would not have any heroic trait. He is a ruthless murderer and rapist who cannot sing and dance properly.

Bhatt sahab liked the hero, Babloo. He used to say that he would be remembered. But I disagreed at the time. Now, though, after watching the film, all of us have liked Babloo’s role better in comparison. He has turned out to be such a nice, likeable character.

The kind of roles I want to play in the future
So far I have played a whole gamut of roles. Hero, villain, action, comedy, emotion and now even a double role. When I suddenly switched to doing roles with negative shades in Baazigar and Darr it was said that I would never be accepted. But I was. Then they said I would never be able to do romantic roles again. But again I proved them wrong with successful films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Pardes and Dil To Pagal Hai. Now in Duplicate for the first time I am playing a good and a bad character simultaneously, and I am sure people will love both.

As an actor I don’t have much choice. The kind of roles I have played have been played by hundreds of artistes in the past. But that doesn’t mean I will sit idle and wait for some unusual role to fall into my lap. I can always choose from whatever roles are offered to me and try to make them better in my own way!