Even in an interview, Abhishek Bachchan is full of the sense of humour that his co-stars often keep referring to. He may be the cool, tough cop in Dhoom: 2, but when asked about the music of the film, he quips that the music of Dhoom was better because he had more songs.

Sample his wit for yourself as he fields questions - most of the times tongue firmly in cheek - about Dhoom: 2...

Dhoom:2 will be your first sequel. Did you have to reprise your mannerisms and attitude from the first role?

(Laughing) Actually, my first sequel was Lage Raho Munnabhai, in which I played a very prominent role. So Dhoom:2 was my second sequel.

Being a sequel, it was that much easier because you know the character. Having worked on an entire film being that one character, it was interesting because in the sequel, we just had to tweak Jai Dixit. We didn't have to establish his character.

In Dhoom: 2, I feel Jai Dixit is more relaxed. That's reflective in the way he dresses. I'd like to believe that he's cooler in this film, because he's calmer and more level-headed.

How different or similar are Dhoom: 2 and Dhoom?

It's the same genre, but I believe it's a different film. I'd like to believe it's a bigger and better film. What I really liked about Dhoom: 2 was that it's not about fast bikes and thieves; it's more than that.

At first, I remember questioning Adi[tya Chopra, producer] and Sanjay [Gadhvi, director] saying that it should have more of what the original had. Adi had a very good answer to that. He said that if you give them the same thing again, they would get bored.

You have Hrithik and Aishwarya as your adversaries. What do they bring to the Dhoom board?

They bring a whole new dimension. We'd like to believe that they will bring a whole lot more viewers too. We'd like to believe we've been very selfish - Uday and me. We've hired bigger stars so that more people come to watch Dhoom:2 [laughs].

You have played a conman in Bunty Aur Bubli and Bluffmaster, and in Dhoom: 2 you play the cop. Which was tougher?

Everything is challenging. The endeavour is to push yourself to do work that you have not done in the past. If it's not challenging, it's not going to be fun, and you're not going to enjoy what you are doing. If you don't enjoy what you do, you're going to be dishonest to your profession, which is sacrilege for us.

The challenge in Dhoom:2 was to make Jai Dixit more interesting than he was in the first film. Yes, he's the same character - and I am repeating myself here - but that's where the challenge lay; having kept the same foundation, how do you make him more interesting this time round, how do you retain the audiences' attention on him?

How did you like the music of Dhoom: 2?

I think the music of Dhoom: 2 is weaker than Dhoom because I have only one song in this film. And in another song, I am standing by the bar [laughs]. I am convinced that I could have out-danced Aishwarya and Hrithik, Bipasha and Uday. Baye haath ka khel hai. In Dhoom, I had three songs. I think it's very unfair, but what can I do, it's nice music [laughs].

Did you do your stunts yourself?

We did a lot of the stunts. But safety precautions are taken. Amin, our stunt coordinator, is very meticulous when it comes to safety, and very particular. So there were some stunts that actors were willing to do but Amin didn't allow us because he thought that we didn't need to do them. He believes in safety first, and that his actors don't need to do each and every stunt.

There were certain specialised stunts like jet skiing or some motorcycle riding stunts which we were not qualified to do, so specialised people were called in to do them. But we try and do as many stunts as we are allowed to do.

What was it like shooting in South Africa?

This was the first time I shot in South Africa. But it's not the first time I've been there. We shot in and around Durban. The last time I went to Durban was some 16 years ago. It was wonderful to go and see how much the city has developed, it was a wonderful experience, the production capabilities over there were wonderful, the production from their side was very well organised.

They made us feel completely at home and really took great care of us. I'd love to go back there and shoot again.