Talk on the wild side

Bollywood hottie Imran Khan talks about love, luck and everything in between

Imran Khan likes to leapfrog from one topic to another during an interview, quickly sidetracked into mini-anecdotes. Sunday MiD DAY tries to keep up with the star of Soham Shah's Luck as he yaks on about sharks, 'Dansburg' beer and cooking Italian sausage in red wine.

When I met Jack
"When I was in the US, I worked on a show in which we entered a celebrity's home and shot them throwing a party. When I was in Robert Evans' house, Jack Nicholson came in. I was with the camera, trying to get a shot of him. He'd keep covering his face and walking off, so I felt bad. I walked up to him and said, "Sorry sir, I didn't mean to harass you." He patted me on my shoulder and said, "It's ok son, you're just doing your job. I understand." He was so gracious. I went home that night and his voice was echoing in my head. I couldn't sleep. The next day I bought One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining. I realised that when a star is nice to you, you'll forgive him anything. But if you are mean to someone, that's one person who's never going to buy your ticket again."

Swimming with sharks
"It was the first time I'd swum with sharks, during that scene in Luck, but I don't think it will be my last because I had fun. Our instructor told us, 'Sharks are always misrepresented in films.' They may be scary, but they're not dangerous. Most sharks go their entire lives without seeing a human. They know fish, turtles, jelly fish, octopi so when they see humans, the thought of eating them never crosses their minds. Sharks don't like the taste of humans. Every time they have bitten us, they spit us back out.
"So when I did go out into the water for Luck, I had no fear. I swam up to a metre of the sharks. I stared at them in the face."

Dan Dan sent me a telegram
"My personal favourite among the actors in Luck was Danny Denzongpa. He's a class act. After I won an award, he sent me a telegram I'd never seen one in my life! When my boy walked in and said, 'Sir, telegram', I did a double take. I said, 'Telegram? Bapu ki tabiyat toh teekh hai na?' (laughs)u00a0
"Danny insists on everyone calling him Dan Dan anything else makes him feel old. Do you know he has a brewery? His beer is called 'Dansburg' and it's my dearest desire to taste it, but they only sell it in the north-east. He has a stronger beer called He-Man. I only hope he's got his face on the label of Dansburg it would make my life complete."

Born lucky?
"That is an interesting dichotomy. I don't believe in the concept of luck or faith, but something, somewhere tells me I'm very lucky. I don't believe in luck because I'm a scientific person. I believe in facts; there are no intangibles or the unknown. But really bad things don't happen to me. Things work out.
"There are days when I get up and feel powerful. When I feel like I'm in The Zone. It was a term created for sports where everyone else is moving in slow motion and you can just move through. Those are good days. On those days, I wear sunglasses."

Of gay love triangles and fuzzy romcoms
"It's not true that I've signed on Zoya Akhtar's film. Zoya has called me but I've not read or heard the narration. I'm not saying whether it's with Ranbir Kapoor or Farhan Akhtar yet.
"Dibakar Banerjee has told me a story, but hasn't written a screenplay yet. The cast he wants is with Abhay Deol and Katrina Kaif. It has no gay angle, Abhay isn't playing a gay guy, as reported. The film with Sonam Kapoor (directed by Puneet Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar) is a fuzzy, popcorn, date movie romcom that will start middle of October. I have a feeling we'll be good together.
"Delhi Belly is easily the most exciting film I've worked on. It also involved a great deal of suffering with that damn beard and long hair. I don't know if the movie will make money or if people will watch it. There's a fair chance that there will be protests and theatres will be burned. But it's going to be awesome. I saw the first cut; it's really a cool film."

Not yet Aamir
"There are stories of me involved in scripting, casting, location-scouting, ghost-directing. Thing is, they decide that I must be like Aamir and do these things. Everyone is determined to make me exactly like him. I don't think that people feel I'm arrogant. They think I'm well-behaved and grounded. I certainly give opinions and ask many questions.
"A lot of people may think I'm interfering or involved. There's nothing I can do about it. Aamir is not really like that. It's just become an accepted truth because it's been reported so much."u00a0


Imran Khan has a big collection of shoes, as can be seen, in different colours and brands.u00a0
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Putting Kidnap behind
"It's possible people may think of Kidnap when they see Luck, but Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) and my relationship is completely different here. In Luck, the film is less him and more about the rest of us. He's an all-seeing godfather figure. Different dynamics. I've seen little of Kidnap since its release; honestly I can't see any new flaws than what I saw back then. The film that you saw is not the script I read."

Five things I'm good at
Writing. I think I write my column well. It's top-rated.
I honestly don't think I'm a good actor, but I am good at memorising lines, funnily enough. Long, long passages, like my speeches in Kidnap.
I accumulate trivia, so my friends call me up on general knowledge. 'Imran, why is blue tooth called blue tooth?' Or how to use a particular word in a sentence.
My mom calls me up to fix her computer. I'm generally good at fixing things u2014 like if a link comes off your watch, I can fix it with a safety pin.
Cooking. I recently made Italian sausage, flavoured with fennel and red wine. And I made pasta with sauce for my friends.

What I want to learn before I die
"Skydiving, dancing and performance driving. I love driving."u00a0u00a0u00a0

With girlfriend Avantika

The best thing about being in a long-term relationship
"The fact that there's always someone you can call up and get those basic things done. In the middle of the night, after I'm done shooting, I can call up and say, 'Baby, I'm hungry.' Or if my phone's fallen in the pot and I need a new instrument or new clothes, she'll go buy it. That one person is there."

What I spend the most money on
"On food. I like to go out for dinners. This, to me, is one of the great pleasures in life. My friends are with me on this. We go out frequently. Gajalee is one of my favourite places. Besides that, I spend a lot of money on my car. It's horrifically expensive. It costs more than some people's houses. But it counts for a lot to me. Makes me really happy."