Known for his wit and wisecracks, the actor talks about the lighter side of acting...

On his contribution to ‘Umrao Jaan’

“My contribution? It’s zero. Whatever I have acted or spoken has been under the apt baton of Dutta sir (JP). He made me realise that actors don’t have to do anything as long as the director knows what he is doing. Doing ‘Umrao Jaan’ was a bit of a culture shock. In our previous films together we were never so polite. Now suddenly we were saying ‘adaab’.”

On doing a woman-dominated film

“It was the first time we saw so many women on the sets of a JP film. I must thank Dutta sir for making me realise what his heroines must have felt like in his previous films—being outnumbered. It was a humbling experience. It made me realise how talented women are and that they are truly superior to men.”

On speaking Urdu

“Speaking Urdu was not that tough as JP sir’s father (OP Dutta), the dialogue writer, would sit next to the camera and the minute we said something wrong would correct us. Also it was not chaste Urdu that we were speaking. It was more Hindustani. So it didn’t bother us much.”

On doing his first period film

“This difficult process was made easy because JP sir always shoots on location. When you are put in a real environment you automatically start living the character. We shot in a palace where kings once lived. One starts living in the grandeur of that era. Before we began shooting he would play the songs from the film to bring in the mood. It might sound dramatic but dressed in the elaborate costumes and make-up it brought us in the right frame of mind.”

On dressing up as a nawab

“I actually felt like a jewellery store with the amount of ornaments I wore. I didn’t know the tricks of the trade and the shawl kept falling off. So I was trying my best to peek into the ladies’ make-up room to understand how they manage it all. The scariest part was Anna (Singh) trying to attack me with safety pins."

"Puru (Raj Kumar) had to go through the trauma of hair extensions. I now understand why my female co-actors take so long to get ready. I respect them. It took me ages to tie the fabric on my head. So imagine what they have to go through!”

On his favourite scene

“Most of the time, I had to sit on the gadda and watch the women dance. But there was this one scene where I get to fight a guy. I loved it as I could not handle sitting on a gadda anymore. I finally got some blood.”

Abhishek’s upcoming films

'Dhoom 2'
'Guru'
'Sarkar 2'
'Shootout At Lokhandwala'
'Delhi 6'