Guess who just hung out with Imran Khan in his vanity van at Mehboob Studio? Team MissMalini that’s who! We caught up with the dishy star about his new movie Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola that hits theatres today (yay!) and (because we love you) asked him a bunch of your Twitter questions too. Watch! xoxo
Imran Khan on working with Anushka Sharma, Playing a Haryanvi Jatt & His Favorite Haryanvi Joke!
MissMalini: How was it working with Anushka Sharma?
Imran Khan: The great thing about Anushka is that she takes her work very seriously but she doesn’t take herself too seriously. She doesn’t have those issues or hang-ups about this angle or that angle and my hair is like this, none of that drama is there. It’s very easy to make friends with her and it’s very very easy to work with her.
MM: So who broke the ice?
IK: When we first met a year-and-a-half ago, we did a cover shoot for Hi!Blitz with these horses and she was terrified of them. I love horses because I ride and stuff, and I was trying to convince her not to worry, they would not eat her, because turns out horses are vegetarian!
MM: What was it like working with Vishal Bhardwaj, were you nervous?
IK: Yeah, I was. I was pretty scared of what it would be like, I was scared just because of the kind of role that it is, and I was wondering what kind of a director he would be. I had this fear in my head that he would be the kind of director that micromanages your performance, and funnily enough he gave me the kind of freedom that no other director has given me before. He gives you all the tools you need beforehand, all the things you may need, and he says “here, now you have all the tools, you decide what you want to use, when you want to use it.”
MM: Matru is such a different character, full Haryanvi jatt, how did you prep for this?
IK: The prep was very intensive. On the one hand you can just read the lines and parrot what they say, but that’s not enough. The idea was to create a 3-D impression of this character, and for that I had to learn the body language, the speech pattern, everything changes. So I actually moved to Delhi. I was in Delhi for about two-and-a-half months, and I joined a theater group over there called Act 1. I worked very closely with the director NK Sharma, and imagine my good fortune, there were two boys in his group from Hariyala. So you get to hang out with these guys and you start to observe things that people cannot tell you. You can’t tell someone “be Hariyali”. You have to spend time talking to people and you start to observe things, like rather than sitting line this you sit like that, rather than fix your collar like this you fix it like that.
MM: What’s a good Haryanvi pick-up line that you learned?
IK: *blushes* Well I didn’t pick any of those up but I’ve got this great joke that NK Sharma told me. I’ll have to tell it in hindi or otherwise it doesn’t work!
Ek banda hai Lucknow se, bara tehzeeb wala hai to woh haryana aa jaata hai. And you know how people from Lucknow are, very cultured, very polite. To chalte chalte woh koi dukaan dhoon raha hai, koi ghar dhoon raha hai he’s looking for one place in particular. So he stops one guy and said, “bhai saab… mein aapko choti se taqleef doonga. And the jatt says, “de ke dikha!” *LOL*
PS. Did you know there is a website called haryanvijatt.com?! I discovered it while trying to Google the spelling of Haryanvi Jatt!
All Your Twitter/Facebook and G+ Questions Answered!
MM: Now for some Twitter questions! First one: what was it like growing facial hair?
IK: *grimaces* Really irritating, really really irritating…
MM: Does Avantika like it?
IK: No, she hates it. Funnily enough I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with it. The whole time that I was growing the beard and had it, I hated it, I woke up every morning and wanted to shave. And when the film got over and I did shave, I started to miss it! “It’s gone, my beautiful beard is gone!”
MM: It’s your anniversary today, happy anniversary! Are you going to celebrate? I know your promotional schedule is back-to-back….
IK: Hopefully! I’ve got promotional stuff, interviews, and a bunch of screenings of the film, but hopefully once that’s all done, somewhere around midnight, we may be able to get in half-an-hour while it’s still our anniversary.
MM: And your birthday is coming up on the 13th, so happy birthday in advance. Any birthday plans?
IK: Quiet, at home! I’ve been running around so crazily of late that what I really want to do is just have a bunch of close friends and family over, have some good food, and relax, do absolutely nothing!
MM: Ok, one more from Twitter: who has been your favourite co-star, no diplomacy please!
IK: I think I’ve had very good equations with Anushka and Deepika Padukone.
MM: A message to everyone who’s going to watch this movie? One scene to look out for that they’ll really love?
IK: Hands-down my favourite scene is where Pankaj Kapoor and I are trying to move a well. I don’t want to give too much away, but…
MM: Was this a drunk scene? We heard that was amazing!
IK: Yup.
MM: How do you do that scene without being drunk?
IK: It’s a tricky thing. There was once when I had to shoot a drunk scene, and it wasn’t working, and the director said “just have a drink!” and I said “No! I’m a professional actor, I won’t drink on set” and I did about a dozen takes and he was not happy and he kept on insisting that you have to have a drink. So he gets me a couple of shots of this horrible, cheap vodka they happened to be serving at the club we were shooting at, and it was awful. I did one take for him that I don’t think was any different than the rest and he said, “That’s great! Pack up and go home!”
MM: And finally can you give us one Hariyali dialogue?
IK: *smiles* One of my favourite lines in the film comes a little after the well, is where Pankaj-ji takes me for a ride in his plane and he’s trying to convince me to marry his daughter. Initially I’m having none of it, but finally when he convinces me there’s a bit where I unleash and I go ra bhootni warre! Mein teri beti, teri bhains, teri gaddi, teri chaddi pant jooti kameej gadi chaddi kisse se bhi saadi karne ko tayar hoon! *laughs* I did it a lot better in the film though!
Now to win autographed goodies click here!
Psst! Stay tuned for another vanity van blog and more behind the scenes pix! xoxo
Pix: Khyati Gandhi for MissMalini