That question is first on my mind when I meet him for a Q and A at the business center of Taj Land’s End, where he’s doing interviews for Guru, his forthcoming film, with Rai again.

Your appearances with Aishwarya Rai have fuelled speculation that you two are getting hitched.
 

What does it have to do with my film anyway, may I ask?

It’s got everything do with you.

I don’t understand how it’s anybody’s concern. That’s my personal life and I’d like to keep it like that.I share my professional life with the entire world gladly, and I enjoy that.

I am what I am because of the audience and fans. As far as my personal life is concerned, I’d like to keep it private because I don’t think it concerns anyone else. As and when there’s anything to say, I’ll be the first person to say it.

Being a public figure, there’s a lot of curiosity. Besides, you’re also the most hot-n-happening eligible bachelor in tinsel town.

Fair enough. You can ask the question. My answer is that’s my personal life and I don’t think it’s anybody’s concern.

Guru is said to be based on Dhirubai Ambani’s life. Since Anil Ambani is a family friend, did you ask him for his inputs?

That’s media speculation. There’s nothing like that. Guru is a work of fiction, like all other works of fiction; it is also inspired by reality. So it’s not just one particular person the film is based on. Many great people have inspired.

Mani has never said it’s based on any person. But if you have a name as a reference point, it does help in giving the realistic touch to the fictitious character.

Mani said it’s a fictitious story. What his inspiration is, that’s his prerogative. It would be very rude of me to ask him. Many great people serve his inspiration in this rags-to-riches story. We did work on the character, its graph and pitch before beginning filming. We didn’t want to figure out the character of Gurukant Desai on the sets. Otherwise it would be difficult to make this film. Once we were all ready, we began shooting the film.

Having worked with Mani Ratnam in Yuva, it must have been easier working with him the second time round.

He’s going to give me a tougher job the next time. Mani’s not going to make your life easier and give you something very demanding. But there’s a level of comfort. That’s about it. It’s a new film with a new character, and required a new approach to it. Not a film that you can take frivolously.

You had to put on weight to portray the character of Guru. How difficult is it to juggle when shooting another film about the same time and losing it all again?

I try and do one film at a time. We started Guru, shot it chronologically and finished it soon. Working on one film at a time helps take care of whatever problems we might face during production. I’m still trying to lose weight. I had put on 11 kilos for the character, as Mani wanted.

After the shooting of Guru was over, I set about working on what look is required for the next film. Currently I’m shooting for Drona, so this look.

Dhoom 2 is seen more as Hrithik Roshan’s film than yours.

I was given a role to do; I did what I was asked to do. They made the film they wanted to make. I keep saying that it’s not about being the best in the film, but being part of a good film you can be proud of. I don’t worry about being overshadowed.

It’sheard that there was a disagreement between you and your childhood fried Goldie Behl after Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai. Apparently, Aadesh Shrivastav influenced a patch-up.

Goldie is one of my closets friends; he’s family for me. There were never any problems between us. When Goldie was ready to make a film, he narrated the script to me. I liked it. Drona has the potential to be a very exciting film.

What stops you working with Rakeysh Mehra. You were supposed to do Delhi 6. What happened?

Problem is that it has been happening with Rakeysh and me for the past 10 years. Last minute scheduling problems came up. Rakeysh waited over a year for the dates, which I couldn’t accommodate. As a friend, it would be unfair on my part to keep him waiting any longer. There were also casting upheavals in Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay.

From playing Veeru to opting out, you’re now doing the Mehbooba mehbooba item song.

It was an issue of dates. Its working out fine now, I’m doing it. It’s an exciting film to be a part of.

Lastly, is the album Vishal-Shekhar were planning with you still on?

Vishal-Shekhar are not planning an album with me, I’m planning an album with them. It’s an idea I, Rohan Sippy and Vishal-Shekhar discussed during the making of Bluffmaster.

We were very happy with the rapport we struck while working on the Right here right now track. We’re hoping to complete the album by next month and release it sometime in the middle of this year.