AB’s baby on Delhi-6

Abhishek Bachchan is on a whirlwind tour of the world to promote his film. First he was in the US with his wife, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, at the Pink Panther 2 premiere.

Then he flew to London to promote Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Delhi-6. After that Bachchan Jr. came to Mumbai to talk all about playing Roshan Mehra in Delhi-6. Wearing a big black velvet coat, Abhishek got chatty with us on the sets of Indian Idol, where he was a celebrity guest, and got talking about his latest character, working with Sonam Kapoor and why he took so long to sign grab the opportunity to work with Rakeysh Mehra.

Rakeysh Mehra offered you this role almost six years ago. Why did it take you so long to agree to it?

Rakeysh is a brilliant director and he and I have been trying to work together for almost 12 years now. Nothing worked out before because of date problems but then we finally worked hard to start shooting for this film and here we are.

You have worked with various directors. How is Rakeysh different from them?

It was great working with him; Rakeysh is a man who knows what he wants. He is perfect. He will let you work as long as he feels that you are in character. The moment he feels you are slipping, he will stop everything at once and correct it. He taught me many new techniques such as how to control my body language, how to look at the camera. Reel life is quite different from real life so we have to learn each time we work on a project.

What can we expect from this film that we haven’t seen before in your films?

Almost all of my films are different. This one is different too. I guess in this I have Sonam paired opposite me which is also new. As for my character, I play Roshan Mehra, a boy who comes to India from the US to drop his Dadi, who wants to spend her remaining days in Delhi. When I arrive, I try to convince my grandmother that she should come back with me and stay with her family. But then I end up finding Delhi very interesting – even your neighbours are like family. After that, the film is about how certain things go wrong.

Sonam is a newcomer who has only one film to her name. How do you find her as a co-star?

Very interesting. She is a sweetheart- a very good actress who easily got into her character. I think that her character is quite similar to her real personality, very chulbuli and mastikhor. She has worked backstage earlier so she knows better than experienced actors about shots, camera angles and other things.

Sonam said that you played many pranks on her on the sets.

I am what I am. I’ve been a prankster from my childhood, girls would run away from me! Many of my co-stars are also very frightened of me. Jokes apart, it’s very important to get along with your co-stars. That’s the way you develop chemistry. If the only thing we did on the sets was act then we would all get bored. So I joke around for time pass. But even Sonam used to do a lot of masti on the sets. We had a great time.

Does your film Delhi-6 have shades of Samjhauta Express in it?

No, because Samjhauta was more of a thriller and Delhi-6 is not. But I believe that there are a lot of influences from Samjhauta Express in Delhi-6.

Which is your favorite song from the soundtrack?

I love all the songs; the music is seriously good. And the entire credit for them goes to Prasoon Joshi. He has written all the lyrics as well as the film’s dialogues. Rahman too has once again given great music. The dialogues are great too. 'Burger Chhap' is a common phrase in India which is used to refer to Americans. Then there is Kala Bandar, which also a known phrase.

Promotion these days is extremely important. What is your take on this?

It's very important to publicise your product. That is why we advertise. It's very important to promote your film so that the audience knows what it is all about. But sometimes a film’s publicity goes overboard and then, when the product is launched, it is bad. Your marketing strategy is very important.