At 23, Imran Khan learnt Hindi for his debut. Today he is ready to play Punjabi or Gujarati characters. By K Bhardwaj
Having spent five years in the industry, Imran Khan learnt his lessons. The best he has learnt is that he is not the Godman of industry and there are things which he cannot control. After his debut with Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, he was touted as the next big thing and faced inevitable comparisons with Rockstar Ranbir Kapoor. Soon, as audience loved Kapoor, critics wrote off Khan after series of flops. However, he hit back strongly with Delhi Belly and managed to deliver above-average films like I Hate luv Storys and Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola. “There’s hardly any point of positioning yourself in front of any other actor. I don’t even look at them. Their successes and failures won’t help me. So my focus is on my own ability and how I can improve that. I know my limitations and I want to go beyond that,” he said. So how does he handle pressureIJ “I am more chilled out now. There is always a tendency to panic but I cannot change producers’ decisions, the number of screens film will be screened at, the box office result or critics’ verdict. So there’s no point to botherIJ” he said.
Imran wants to constantly break the barriers. He proudly brought Matru... up in the conversation. “I started learning Hindi at the age of 23 for my first movie. For me, speaking Haryanvi for Matru… was an uphill task. I took three months to learn it. It was like a real achievement. When I got the script, words were not coming out of my mouth. I went back home and felt so embarrassed. I realised I was going to make a fool of myself. Finally, when I saw myself on screen, I felt I broke one barrier down. Now if somebody comes with a Punjabi script, I have confidence to do it,” he said.
In his next Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, he plays an urban boy who moves to a rural setting to woo his girl. This also happens to be his second movie with director Punit Malhotra. “Kareena and Punit, both have become good buddies. I can predict what they expect and how they are going to react to something unusual. It was like a headstart,” he said.