Excerpts:
Q: What was it like working with Anushka Sharma who is
making her debut?
A: Anushka in a certain way has helped me a lot with this film.
I had to react to this girl who's so fresh and different. So as
an actor, I would say she has kept me on my toes and I think she
has done a wonderful job. I feel responsible for her career because
she is starting off with me. I hope she does a fantastic job.
She kept me on my toes, not just by virtue of being fresh and
new, by being taller than me also. I truly from the bottom of
my heart pray for her and I hope this film does really good for
her and she does some amazing amount of work, so we can feel proud
that we started her career on celluloid.
Q: What sets "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" apart from the other
Yash Raj Films' ventures that you have been a part of?
A: When Adi (Aditya Chopra, director) narrated it to me, I just
felt that he's being very courageous and brave. He really wants
to experiment with commercial cinema but still tries to think
different within that parameter. I never thought that for his
own directorial venture, after eight years, he will think of a
film like "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi". I think it's truly
brave of him to take three characters and make a whole film around
them. I think it's an evolution of a director and a producer and
that's what sets "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" very different
from all the others.
Q: Your look in the film is very different and most talked
about - can you tell us a bit about it?
A: The first character is Surinder Sahni and we wanted him to
look like a middle class guy, having a fixed routine - perhaps
to the extent of being boring. We also wanted to give him a little
bit of amusing quality without making him a caricature and to
get all that, I think a physical appearance was important. Especially,
for the movement of the story, the look was very important. One
day, I put a moustache and got some hairpiece done and showed
it to Adi and he said, 'This is the guy he should look like.'
It's not how weird or funny I look, but the simplicity of the
character will permeate through the screen.
Q: Any one memorable incident during the shoot of the film?
A: I think the most memorable part was the first seven-eight
days when I changed my look for Surinder Sahni. When I used to
walk on the sets, nobody would recognise me. I got a taste of
things that will come 30 years later in my life when I will no
longer be a star and nobody will recognise me. I think that is
the most memorable moment but I hope it never happens to me ever
again because not to be recognised after 20 years of such high
recognition is something I wasn't ready for.
Q: An extraordinary romantic icon like you playing an
ordinary man in a love story. Comment.
A: I have always said that I am just an employee of the superstar
that goes by the name of Shah Rukh Khan. I just need to work hard
for my employer. I am basically very ordinary in the way I think,
in the way I do things. I come from an educated lower middle class
background and I have never lost touch with that. Suri is what
I really am. And my challenge as an actor is genuinely to make
Surinder Sahni the new romantic icon. I want everybody not to
love Raj anymore and say 'We want to be Suri'. The romantic iconic
status crown now shifts from Raj and Rahul to Surinder Sahni because
he's got a good heart.
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