Exclusive : Abhishek on KANK

With Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna heading for release, Abhishek Bachchan took time out to speak to MSN India and MovieTalkies exclusively. Excerpts:

Could you begin by telling us something about your character?

I play the character of Rishi Talwar, who runs an event management company in New York. He is in his late twenties-early thirties, married to his childhood sweetheart, played by Rani Mukherjee, and his father is played by my own father. He is a very happy-go-lucky guy who does not stress about life too much. He loves his wife profusely and is completely embarrassed by his father! But he is very happy with the directions that life is taking. He loves the fact that he can come back home to a woman who truly adores him, mothers him and loves him. Then life takes a turn and certain events happen in his life where he has to take a stop in his life and decide whether he should remain the same old boy or grow up into a mature man.

What was it like when Karan first approached you for the film?

It was exhilarating! I remember we had a small get-together party to celebrate the success of Dhoom, and the next morning Karan showed up and offered me the film. It was just a brief one-liner because he was still writing at that point in time, but it was wonderful. It was a dream working with Karan and this film is very close to my heart because I used to go on his sets earlier and hoped that one day I would get an opportunity to work with him. He is definitely one of my favorite directors and it was a pleasure working with him.

What is that one thing that you like about Karan as a director?

The one thing that I like about Karan most as director is that he is completely unapologetic about his cinema, about the films that he makes. He has come under a lot of criticism about the kind of films that he makes as people feel that he is unrealistic and opulent. But Karan believes in a particular vision, goes after it, and achieves it. He believes in opulence, almost decadent opulence. He believes in melodrama and that?s exactly what his films mirror and it?s wonderful that at a time when Indian cinema is leaning towards realism and subtlety, Karan is one director who is not affected by anybody else. He continues to make great cinema, the golden age cinema where you have huge sets, big actors, big emotions, good songs, great dialogues, lots of trolley movement and drama. I think it?s so nice. What?s even better about Karan is that he has evolved with time. He loves his style of cinema but he has infused it brilliantly with today?s way of thinking, today?s approach. I think it is a great fusion of two different styles. So his ability to mix these two different things is his greatest asset as a director.

What is the one thing that you don?t like about Karan?

It is very difficult not to like Karan as a director. As for a person, I pretty much dislike most of the things that he does. But as a director it is very very hard to find a fault. Just the way he loves his actors, it?s not just about an efficient production team taking care of you but you genuinely know when Karan looks into your eyes and tells you to do a shot or is explaining a scene, you can see how possessive and loving he is towards his actors. It is a very honest emotion. He genuinely loves his actors.

KANK is about extra-marital affairs? do you think Karan should have selected such a subject?

Why not? Karan is a director and as a director your duties are to make films that are close to your heart, and on subjects that you believe in. This is obviously a subject that he believes in and is convinced about. He is a director and a storyteller; and he has told a wonderful story.

Tell us something about your co-stars in the film?

What more can a relatively new actor ask for, with Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee in the film. You feel happy just for the opportunity to stand in the same frame th