The most-awaited film of this year PK is just around the corner. Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, the film is slated to release on December 19 and stars Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani and Sushant Singh Rajput. Since its coming together of Hirani and Khan after 3 Idiots, expectations are sky high from PK. While the film has managed to create good buzz, it has had its owns share of controversies as well courtesy the nude poster which got leaked not too long ago and went viral on the internet. So when we caught up Aamir to chat about PK, we directly got down to business and started our conversation by asking him about the infamous nude poster….

Were you apprehensive about doing the nude poster for PK because people haven’t seen you doing such a thing before?

First of all that poster is a moment from the film. It’s an extremely important moment of the film. When you see the film you will connect immediately with that so it’s a key art from the film. Was I apprehensive? No, I wasn’t. But if you had asked me this question two or three years ago before I had heard the script and if you had asked me would you do a nude shot in a film, I would have said no. I would not have imagined myself doing that and I would quite naturally feel uncomfortable because we are not use to being without clothes. But when I read the script it was most natural to me and come to think of us it then all of us are born without clothes on and that’s how nature probably intended us to be. As human beings, we have created clothes so I was not uncomfortable.

Are we prepared for such bold content?

I think that we have to be honest to our work. That’s very important to us and we hope that when people see the film they will understand better. I don’t think Raju or Abhijaat or me or Vinod are kind of people who would do something like shedding our clothes to just be sensational. That’s certainly not our intention. And nor would we use it just to market the film. I don’t think any of us needs to do that. But we need to be honest to our material and that is what we have been. Now if that has an adverse response, so be it. We have to be honest as creative people. During 3 Idiots we didn’t use the kissing scene which is there in the end for publicity. So if we were the kind of people who thought ki thoda masala daalte hain publicity mein then we would have used that kissing shot. But we didn’t even mention it. Here the scene is extremely relevant to the plot of the film which is why we have used.

In one of the interviews you said that your role in PK has been the toughest one of your career. So if you had refused the film, would it have been made?

Of course because I find the role extremely challenging maybe other actors would have found it easier to do. For me, the strength behind PK and the hero behind PK is not me but it’s Raju Hirani. If you replace me, you would do fine with the film but if you replace him then you don’t have a film. So PK is essentially his film and according me he is the number one director today in the industry and his track record shows that.

Would you take the onus for a flop because Rajkumar Hirani said he would take the onus if at all something went wrong?

If a film of mine doesn’t do well then of course I will take the responsibility. I have a certain responsibility towards the audience, my producers, distributors, market and the film industry because they have faith and trust in me so I wouldn’t like to disappoint my audience or the investors.

Your son Junaid has assisted on this film. So how was it working with him and did he get any special treatment?

It was great fun but he didn’t get any special treatment. He was one of the junior assistants and he stayed with the unit. He didn’t stay with me. He ate with them and also travelled with them.

Any plans to launch him as an actor?

That really depends on him. He is still very young and is still learning. So ultimately when he feels he is ready to take the next step and if I feel the step he wants to take is the one that I can back then I would. But there is lot of time for that I guess…

You are originally the Rs 100 crore club hero. So how do you see this trending growing in the industry?

It’s a very unfortunate trend because the moment creative people start thinking of the numbers than the shadow of that number influences the kind of films they choose. And the moment I start picking films which only have the potential to do 100 crore or more than my choice becomes very limited. Then I can only do a film like Avengers or Spiderman and that kills the creativity to an alarming extent. So I have always selected films on the basis of what I feel towards them. A film like Taare Zameen Par went on to do a good business but on the face at that time I had no idea. I selected it because I loved the story. I did Lagaan when the entire industry was thinking it was a disaster. So I picked all these films without thinking about the box office. I did these films because I loved them. That they went on to do big box office business is great. It actually shows that even audience is changing and wants different stuff. Their taste is broadening. What was earlier considered mainstream, today it is actually not mainstream. Also, we are in a story telling business so if I sell you the same story each time, you don’t want to consume it because we have consumed it once. Each time you want a new story so films have to be new each time as oppose to identical each time.

Recently there were reports about you coming together with Deepika Padukone for a film but apparently you backed off from the project. Can you tell us what happened?

You know, I don’t discuss about projects which I am not in…

But you were offered the film?

I am offered many films…there are lot of offers even now (smiles). I just don’t talk about films which I am not doing.

Any plans of directing a film again in the near future?

Not right now. I am looking for a script that I want to act in

src:bollywoodlife