Why produce the short film Khoon Aali Chithi?

Rupinder Inderjit (Director) and I are thick friends and he wants to direct films. When he brought this script I thought why not try and support him. Previously he had made a raw 10 minutes film, I said I like it but now let’s make it properly and will share it with the audience. I hope to produce features too and just not stay content with short films.

Even your brother has contributed to the film through his music, was it your idea?

To be honest I didn’t have money because in short film you never know what your return or recovery will be. He is a musician and I told him that we don’t to invest too much, and he did and I feel he did a pretty good job.

Is he planning to get into movies?

Currently, there’s no such plan as he is a performer and sings with an opera group, plays guitar and piano. I’ll be very happy if he becomes a composer.

Have you thought about directing too?

I don’t have the patience to direct a film and I never want to (Laughs).

Heard that, you have been approached by the Italian duo, Miriam Mauti and Riccardo Ghilardi to be featured in their untitled book that will talk about actors across the world on their remarkable work in films... is it true?

Yes it’s true. We are doing a book on actors from India. They love the Hindi film industry and they were really gracious and really nice to work with. I know them since a while now because of the International work that I have done, even through Masan. It’s an honour to be featured in their book and I am really happy to talk to them about our work. I feel really special and I am glad that Indian actors overall are getting a great exposure all over the world. Whether it’s Priyanka Chopra with Baywatch, Deepika in Xander cage and Frieda the first one to really go and make a name for her. I have worked with her in LA as well and she is so identifiable, very respected for her choice of films and literally the first one to get out there. I love her, she is a lovely person and I really enjoyed working with her. We share a bond of mutual respect and support of actors who are surviving in a fragile environment on their own.

Did you find any difference in working here and there?

Yes, there is a difference. There is a dignity of labour which I keep teasing my team about too. An actor is not the hero of everything. The actor listens to their agent and manager. If you see any Hollywood award ceremony, the first thing the actors say is I’ll like thank my agent or my team. I feel that culture is missing here because here we sort of put the actors on pedestal or the star on pedestal but, I don’t work like that. For me my team is everything and it’s because of their hard work and their sleepless nights that I get to sleep and I get some rest.

You are also said to be a part of a Hollywood Project with Paris Jackson and your co-star Ali Fazal... can you share something about that?

That’s on a very initial stage. We just met and I think she is very interested in visiting Mumbai,, and I would love to help her.. The things that I have learned from her is that she is a global icon’s daughter – one of the best entertainer of all time but, still she is so humble, sharp, so smart, aware of the world and well read too. I would like some of our actors to take a lesson or a cue from that.

Many stars including you have always been vocal with your opinions, do you think t is difficult to be taken seriously on social media, and one gets trolled too often...

Who cares about them...I feel sorry for them. I think they are really unhappy with their lives. Imagine the efforts they make. Each day they find one person they want to attack. I can’t care about people like that who have no real job and this is all they do. My only advice to other actors would be who are these faceless and meaningless people that we care or worry about? They are irrelevant.

You have quite a few films lined up ahead...which one are you most excited about?

For no other reason and the fact that it was a special and commercial film, it’s Fukrey. There is no reuniting with them because we have been friends after the film. We try and meet once a month. The sequel has much more to give than the previous one.

You are also getting trained to sing for your upcoming film...

I don’t know right now as everybody is objecting to actors getting into singing. I may sing as my brother is a musician and I love to sing. I am little bit trained also not like a professional singer. I love music I have been a part of trials too. Music is in my family. Currently, I am busy with other stuffs too so, I don’t want to mess it up. But, I feel if the actors were not allowed to sing then we would have not had Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Suraiya. If an actor can sing let them sing. If a singer can act let them act. Have singers not acted? Sukhvinder Singh has done a film, Sonu Nigam was a hero in two films, Monali Thakur just acted in a film. I am sure all kinds of singers get acting offers also. What’s wrong with that? We are all creative people, how do you make a category it’s not like we are teaching a subject so we should not cross each other’s path. Right now I am being interviewed because I am producing a film but what if someone says that that you are an actor you cannot produce a film. No one can take the job of professional singers. I can never sing like Niti Mohan, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Goshal...they are so great I can’t. I will never be able to take their job and I don’t want to, I love what they do. Tomorrow, classical singers might come and say we don’t like this pop culture and rappers who make money. And, there’s no end to this stupid debate. Hollywood doesn’t lip-sync music like India and secondly singers are rock stars in Hollywood. We have the lip-sync music culture over here so, the actors are the face of the singers but it’s not true that singers are not respected. In fact, they make way more money than us through their concerts.

Tell us something about your upcoming project ‘Inside Edge’.

It’s a web series which will be about Cricket. I am playing an actor who owns a cricket team and the series depicts the story behind the scenes of the cricket world -- politics, match fixing and corruption.

Is it true that your character is based on Preity Zinta?

No I don’t because our show is completely fiction and a scripted drama. I am sure if I was playing Preity Zinda she would have probably come and discussed about it with us.