Being a gay icon is flattering: Imran Khan

Imran Khan in a freewheeling chat with TOI talks about men applying make-up in Bollywood, his love for food and more

Next time? Noida!

Imran Khan had a problem on his hands when he came to Delhi recently. He’d posted online that he was going to be in the capital at an event in Vasant Kunj, and that everyone could come and meet him, Sonam Kapoor and Punit Malhotra, his co-star and director from I Hate Luv Storys. He got a reply from someone saying, ‘But I’m in Noida - what do I do?’

In between getting his make-up and hair done, Imran promised that next time, people, he will come to Noida. But since he was stuck in a hotel room with his stylist putting pancake on his face, we were able to pin him down for a chat with her help. Here are some excerpts:

Doesn’t make-up make you uncomfortable?

Discomfort, no - it’s standard part of the thing. I like to keep it as minimal as possible because you can tell when people are wearing make-up on screen.

Even the male actors?

No, but at one time they did because at the time the way the lights were, the film was, the lens was, you needed to cover up a lot more.

And any lip gloss?

No. My lips are too pink already. People see lip gloss on me as it is, so imagine what’d happen if I actually did wear it!

You’ve said you have a near perfect body in IHLS.

No, I don’t. It’s as near as I can get it. When I say near perfect, that’s what I mean - as near to perfect as I could get it at the time. Maybe in two years, I’ll do even better.

Do you work out a lot?

I change depending on what I’m doing. Right now I’m not working out at all. As a result of that, I’ve lost a bit of weight. I lose weight if I don’t work out, I have to do that to maintain size. If I don’t work out, I remain very, very thin.

Lucky!

Not for guys. IHLS, I think, involved doing the toughest workout that I think I’ve done in my life. That was because of two things - one, a scene where I wake up in the morning without a shirt, and the other, a song where my shirt is open and flying back, and I’m singing to the heavens. I wanted to look as near to perfect as I could for those scenes.

If you were a girl, you’d have been exhausted and grumpy all the time ...

I was. I was a very, very grumpy person at that time. I’m big on food ... and at the time, because I was eating utterly tasteless steamed food, I was a very, very grumpy person.

What sort of food are you big on?

Anything. Everything. Absolutely everything. I go nuts on Indian food when I’m in Delhi.

Have you ever gotten mobbed in Delhi?

No, I’m pretty careful with that. It’s gotten a bit hairy at times while shooting, but you have security so they can keep it under control.

You can’t just walk into any place and get something you want?

Nope.

Except a five star ...

Yeah, you have to be smart about it. If it’s a short way, and if you quickly walk through it, by the time people register that it’s you, you’re already gone. You gauge situations, take calculated risks.

It’s never happened that you walked through a street and no one recognised you ...

No, that you really can’t. For a short while, you can avoid being recognised. It’s a strange thing, like a star aura you can turn on and turn off. I can turn it off and for a long time, people will not notice that I’m there. Or you can actually turn it on and - I can walk into a room and people by themselves just turn around and look. It’s a weird thing, if there is such a thing.

Anything you miss because of all this visibility?

I can’t browse anywhere.

Not even in Mumbai, which is supposed to be less star-struck than Delhi?

There’s a limit na. I can’t spend an hour browsing somewhere. I can’t just walk into a place not knowing what I want and just look at stuff. Everything needs to be a tactical mission - I need to know what I want, so I’ll pull up, I know where my entry point is, my exit point, and my car will be ready and I’ll get into it and be gone.

When we asked Sonam about you ragging her about appearing in those ‘deadly numbers’, she was very surprised, and said that Avantika (Imran’s fiancé) is a pretty cool dresser. Have they met?

Yeah, of course they’ve met. Avantika was there during the shoot in New Zealand.

You like to have her come along when you’re shooting?

Yeah, otherwise it gets very lonely.

Co-actors, directors - they’re not company?

How much company... At some point, you want someone from home - friends, family. If you’re a heroine, you get your mummy along, I can’t do that because it would be weird.

Does your mum also think it’d be weird?

Yeah, it’d be pretty weird.

You’re not very big on talking about Avantika now, are you?

I feel there’s not much left to talk about. It was such a grand topic during the promotions of Jaane Tu ... that now I don’t know what’s left to say. People say, so you’re very open about your relationship. Yes, I am. Ab kya?

But why did you decide to talk about it right from the beginning?

It’s easier than hiding it. Really, if you’re trying to lie or hide something, everyone knows what’s actually going on.

Isn’t she bugged that the whole country knows?

Umm ... er ... she’s never brought that up. I don’t think it bothers her, I’d imagine she’d have told me if it did. Some things you just take as it is. It’s not like we’re hiding from our families.

How did she take the gay icon thing? How did you take the gay icon thing?

It’s flattering, but it’s not a big deal. As an actor, you want people to like you. It’s not like, oh my God, suddenly I have gay fans. That means I have fans, no? It doesn’t make me uncomfortable or anything.

Like having a votebank - and you couldn’t care less who it is ...

It’s not that you couldn’t care less, you just don’t differentiate. When you have fans, you respect and appreciate them, but you don’t differentiate. It’s not like arrey, now I have fans in China, now I’ve arrived!

But it must be a little different having gay fans and being a huge hit in China. Yeah, I think it translates into more tickets sold (laughs).

It was that one particular photo that did it, right?

Yeah, the one with me lying on my stomach. The entire idea with this photoshoot was to push that look a bit, because that ties into what my character and the film is.

How does it tie in with a sarcastic cynic who doesn’t believe in love?

It’s the sexy look. He’s a womaniser, a player. He’s the guy who believes in sex, not love.

You play a womaniser? Was it aspirational for you - I’d like to play a womaniser someday?

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it might be aspirational for a lot of guys, a lot of guys are gonna watch it and - in the first half - go ‘yes, that’s the way it is!’ It’s probably not a good thing to be in real life, though.