Emraan is riding high. Starting from a flop film 'Footpath', the
blue-eyed boy of Bhatts has come a long way with hits one after another.
TWF correspondent Vickey Lalwani
chats up the smooch king of Bollywood.
Q: While shooting for 'Killer', you played a prank on your leading lady Nisha Kothari?
A: (Laughs) Yes. The scene required a bullet to whiz towards Nisha, and I save her. I grab her and roll to the ground.
I told the directors (Raksha Mistry and
Hasnain Hyderabadwala) to tell Nisha that after I roll to the ground and
Nisha turns towards me, I would then hold her tightly and plant a kiss.
Nisha didn't say anything but
the ex-pression after the narration clearly revealed that she didn't
like the idea.
Q: Then what happened?
A: The shot happened. Nisha rolled over and waited and waited for the
kiss... but it didn't happen! She looked stunned and couldn't figure out
what happened. At this point of
time, we could not refrain from laughing. She realised the joke was on
her.
Q: Why did you do this mischief?
A: It was all in good fun. Basically, I wanted to break the ice between
her and me. The prank was a way of breaking the ice between Nisha and
me. Nisha seemed a bit
apprehensive of my kissing image and used to look at me like this
monster has come on the sets.
She had shot for five days before
me and then I came in. I had
never met her before that. But when she looked at me, I knew what she
was thinking. Earlier, she had made some comment about me and my kissing
image, so I decided
to play a prank on her.
Q: Why did you take the second lead in 'Gangster'? Earlier, weren't you supposed to do Shiney Ahuja's role?
A: I have never turned down a film because I wasn't offered the lead. In
my first film 'Footpath', I had the choice of doing the role played by
Aftab Shivdasani, but I felt Raghu's
character was more challenging and the gamble paid off for me.
I went with my conviction. 'Murder' was out-n-out Mallika Sherawat's film but it got me a fair share of
popularity and recognition.'Kalyug' proved that I could shine even in a two-bit role. What more do I want?
Even in 'Gangster', people praised my performance even
though Shiney (Ahuja) had the title role. I have no ego hassles. I am a director's actor.
Q: After working with the Bhatts for so long, you are now doing a Subhash Ghai film titled 'Good Boy, Bad Boy'?
A: That's right. I am playing the bad boy. It's a unique story of campus
life the likes of which we've never seen on the Hindi screen before.
There are two kinds of guys in
college-the studious nerds and the cool dudes who rule in the canteen.
The distinction between the two is very definite but occasionally, as it happens in this film,
the two guys who're diametrically opposite to each other, become friends and together wipe out the deficiencies in each other.
Q: You specialise in films having extra-marital affairs as the subject. Did you ever have an affair with a marrieed woman?
A: Yes I did have an affair with a married woman. But all along I wasn't aware that she was married.
Q: How did it stop?
A: Well, the inevitable happened and her husband came to know. There was
no escaping a showdown either. The end was ugly, but finally we froze
on the
relationship.
Q: You're tying the knot with your girlfriend on December 14?
A: The wedding will be sometime in December. We haven't freezed on the
date yet. December 14 is the tentative plan. But I'm happy I've taken
the decision. It'll be the
beginning of another new chapter in my life. We are engaged now.
Q: Your fiancée was upset with your intimate scenes with Mallika in
'Murder'? Does this mean that after marriage Emraan will never kiss on
screen again?
A: That's not true. Rumours are a part of the film industry. My fiancée
has never pressurized me when it comes to work. She's never told me what
I can do and what I can't.
It's my decision to refrain from kissing for a while.