John Abraham: "I Would Never Play Safe"

For John, as an actor, how did it feel to shift genres into a realistic “Madras Café,” after a dramatic “Shootout at Wadala,” a comic “Housefull 2” or, an action thriller, “Race 2”?

“I have done films like Water and Kabul Express earlier,” John is quick to revert, “I have done some very different films, and people know me as a guy who has the guts to do films which are different. I think if I was the audience, I would like to see John in a film like Madras Cafe. It has a sense of ruggedness to it. It’s really raw in the true sense of the world. Personally too, I wouldn't want to lose that identity. I would never play safe. Probably that is also to do with my passion of bike riding; I like living on the edge.”

Talking about Shoojit, there were talks of you and him making eight films together. What’s happening on that?

“We have blind faith in each other and trust each other completely. We have extended our relationship not just to cinema but also to ad films. We are producing a few of these as well. Sometimes we may operate as two companies but then come together for some movies. Both of us are very content driven; we believe that content is king,” says John.

Having Nargis Fakhri as the leading lady in “Madras Café,” how did he have faith in her to deliver the goods when so many out there gave up on her after “Rockstar”?

Smiles John, "Well, so many out there had given up on me also at some point in time. I have always maintained that if I have faith in people's abilities, I stick by them. Now that you can see her in the film, you would agree, Nargis is a complete revelation."

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Deepika Padukone: “It Hasn't Sunk in Yet"

“Frankly, it hasn't sunk in yet,” says Deepika, “It is not even about time. It is about the fact that so much has happened during the years gone by. Right from the time I said yes to Om Shanti Om, things have just been moving and moving and moving ahead, I really have not had any time to sit down, analyze and absorb all that has happened to me. I look at everything that I have done so far as experiences. I am still in those moments. I am in love with my work and really passionate about it. I am just moving on. I am in a good space now.”

“Chennai Express” was as unabashed as it gets. Was it intentional on her part to pick up something as light hearted as this after relatively dramatic encounters in “Cocktail” and “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”? Was it a detoxification exercise in the making?

“See, there was a point one-and-a-half years ago when I was being offered certain films. While some of the hits that I have been a part of appeared to be straight forward choices for many, I remember the way so many out there reacted to my decision about doing Chennai Express," she reveals, "They wondered if this would be yet another Rohit Shetty-film and wondered why was I doing it in the first place. Usually the girls don't have a major part to play in his films, it is the guys who walk away with all the credit. Upar se yahan toh it was Shah Rukh Khan no less.”

While one waits to see what unfolds in months to come, one factor that cannot be ignored is that in the current times, Deepika is being looked at as someone against whose name records are being attached. If Race 2 marked her entry into the 100-crore club, Chennai Express is marching towards the 200 crore mark while Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is now the fourth highest grosser ever in the history of Indian cinema after 3 Idiots and Ek Tha Tiger.

While the big league is definitely on, haven't these records made her all the more conscious?

She breathes in and gulps before saying, “Wow, now these are some heavy words indeed. Also, you make it sound really scary. See, the intentions to make the films that I have done in the recent past was not to create records. Aisa nahi tha ki chalo karte hain, achchi locations daalenge, pairing achchi hogi, gaane achche hoge to picture superhit ho hi jaayegi. It all eventually boils down to you being honest with your work. You have to go with the flow.”

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Abhay Deol: “We Avoid Taking Work Home”

“I have given this film all I’ve got,” Abhay gets all charged up here, “With this film, I want to carry on the league of films that I have done earlier. See, I will tell you about how it all started. In case of Dev D too, I had this idea that I shared with Anurag (Kashyap) and then he made a film out of it. For Manorama - Six Feet Under too, I got the makers together. Since I was doing all this over the years, I thought why not be a full-fledged producer? It was the next logical step for me.”

The buzz in town is while the film is indeed in Abhay's zone, it is a romcom affair with a strong dose of music.

Smiles Abhay, "Well, I won't say it is a true-blue romcom but yes, it is a light hearted movie. It is spun in a way that Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara was, though obviously it was a much bigger film. One by Two is rooted to reality, just the way I like it. Yes, it is a full on musical. We have seven songs with music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. In fact we have already shot the movie and are currently in the editing stage. We are working on the background score and a call would be taken soon about when to release the movie."

While that's a call that he and the presenters would take soon, back home there are all the chances of him enjoying conversations around the movie with the lady of the house, Preeti, with who he is currently having a live-in relationship.

“We actually avoid taking work home,” smiles Abhay, “Of course it is difficult to draw a thick line and successfully manage to avoid any such conversations about the shoot, back home. However so far we have been managing to do that.”

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Not the Best of Storytelling

“Agar aisa karta toh aap kehte ki yeh chaaku-chura chalaane waala aadmi achaanak Army mein kaise aa gaya,” Mehra throws in a smile, “Ab background toh bataana hota hai naa ki kaise uss aadmi ka dil badla. If at these three women were there in the film, it's because their place was there for a reason; they played some important role in his life. This is the reason why Sonam's episode was required.”

As for the Australian girl, he believes it was totally justified to reserve a decent part of the film for her.

“It happens particularly to us Indians. See, back then in India consensual sex wasn't really admissible in our society, so when Indians traveled all over the world, they couldn't handle themselves. Especially sportsmen got a cultural shock when they traveled the globe. Many of them live under an inferiority complex. Kaafi kuch hota hai aise mein, Milkha ke saath bhi hua. Not that he told this to me in as many words but I inferred it accordingly. With the Australian girl, he lost focus, dimaag kahin aur chala gaya tha," reasons Mehra.

As for the Indian swimmer, he says that somewhere in the film it had to be shown how he was standing by his resolve. Still, he is quick to add, “I agree that this episode wasn't the best of storytelling; it could have been better.”

Well, considering the fact that rest of the film was almost flawless, we could let that pass!