Unlike many of your peers, you have a social life which isn’t restricted to Bollywood circles. Comment.I’ve been accused of slacking, but there have been long periods where I worked incessantly. I couldn’t keep giving out like a machine and I needed to start taking breaks. A while back, I was on a jungle safari in Botswana. There were wild hippos chewing on leaves outside my tent and we had a lion alert in the area. What a thrill! Your first foray into producing, Stumped, was a disaster.What can I say except that sometimes judgements are wrong. It was a good story and a great script, but the movie didn’t live up to the vision we had. I gave somebody new a chance and it backfired. So does that mean you’ll steer clear of the producing game?My second film Pehchaan has been funded by Sahara and is complete. My brother and I are planning two more films. I think of Stumped as an education, the learning fees I had to pay up. Directors like Harry Baweja consider you a lucky charm and insist you make a brief appearance in their films.You know it’s ironic that when I started out my career, I was labelled a jinx: my first six films bombed. Are you lucky in life?I am. Like everybody I’ve faced ups and downs, but I’ve come out of my lows unscathed. Consider the National Awards controversy, where it was alleged that I received the award because I had campaigned for the BJP. Because of the hoopla, at least people remember I got it. Do you even know who won it this year? And in love?When I look at some of the people I went out with now, I can’t see how it would have ever worked. When you were in a relationship with Akshay Kumar you took a two year break from acting because he wasn’t pleased about seeing you on screen?I’ve moved on because there’s no point brooding. Yet I did lose two prime years. At the time he had said, ‘I can’t bear the sight of other actors touching you; only do roles opposite me.’ Unfortunately I’m an emotional person and I was completely floored. I thought ‘Wow, this guy really loves me,’ so I made the sacrifice. What about your career after marriage?Things haven’t changed. My producers are very happy for me, but they keep asking when I’ll give them dates. I had slowed down my work, anyway. I’m doing roles that suit my personality and age. I don’t want to compete with half-naked women. How come you were in, out and in again in Mehul Kumar’s Jago?It was all his decision. I never said I was leaving. I just suggested that a child in coma would not be able to scream and shout. But he lost his cool. That happens, but he should not have made it into a public tamasha. He made it his own Ek Chhotisi Love Story, but it could have been sorted out in a minute. With all that’s happening with you, is there anything you still dream of?Life has just begun. Everything has happened so fast, but I never planned life. I just leave God to do his little bit. You were Bollywood’s most happening singleton. Any advice for those looking for love?Look for simplicity and honesty—then it lasts. It is so tough to find someone decent. That was number one on my list.
