John's the board, I'm the attitude!

AB Jr, on his role and his chemistry with his male co-star

Was it an oh-no or oh-yes when you first heard the story of Dostana?
Oh yes! The one-line of Dostana was told to me in early 2005. I have known Tarun since the last 13 years when he used to work in my mother's audio-visual company on a TV serial called Dekh Bhai Dekh. He'd narrated this one-line to me and it was an instant as I just felt it was a very funny film.

What's it about?
It's a very unique situation it's not everyday you get a film where the two male protagonists pretend to be homosexuals in order to get into a house and then both fall in love with her. So you have this whole comedy of errors.

John is hot bod, Priyanka is the glam doll so what are you in Dostana?
While shooting, I used to make fun saying John is the board and I am the attitude. My character is the fun-loving hyper one. It's Sameer's idea to pretend to be gay, to get an apartment. John really doesn't like it.

How much of Abhishek is in Sameer?
Actually, quite a lot! Because I think every actor brings a lot of himself to the film. Tarun knows me really well so he wrote a lot of the dialogue and the role keeping me in mind.

Tarun says there's more chemistry between John and you. Comment.
(Laughs) Yeah! Hands down! In fact, Priyanka would make fun of us saying we made her a junior artiste! John and I are good friends and that really translates on screen. We had decided that we had dive into this whole-heartedly. You can't be apprehensive about what you are doing or it shows. We both had a blast, and after seeing the film on Tuesday night I can say we are the top contenders for Jodi No 1 next year!

What's the one thing that you like and dislike about John?
What I like about John is the fact that he's a genuine good guy. Contrary to his physicality, which is really this big, well-built Bandra boy; at heart, he's actually a softie and a very sweet chap. What I don't like about him is he gets very persuasive when he wants you to go to the gym. John is like a boot camp sergeant when it came to that with a 'get in the gym' attitude. He's very strict and wouldn't allow me to eat stuff. I like working out but John really pushed me to get into the gym ruthless is the word (laughs)!