Despite refusing so many films you’re quite popular with Bollywood filmmakers...
Any other newcomer would have been tempted to take up the offers. But I don’t regret my decision. I have a certain way of working which many feel is my formula for success. Maybe I have luck on my side, which I call the ‘X’ factor. I guess it’s the blessings of my parents. I hear the story, then study my character, after which I check on the director and finally the banner and the hero of the films offered to me.

Asin means...
Asin means pure, without blemish. I try and live up to my name. My parents didn’t want me to be categorised into any caste, creed or religion. If you don’t know me the name could be a boy’s or a girl’s. I have never heard the name Asin. Sometimes when I’m travelling, my papers describe me as Mr Asin. It makes me laugh! The letter A comes from Sanskrit and ‘sin’ comes from English.

Your mum is a doctor and dad also has a strong academic background. What about you?
I’m a BA in English literature. I was studying when I stepped into glam business.

Didn’t they ever object to your choice of a career?
There’s no one professionally into an art field in my family. Despite that, they never stopped me from trying what I wanted to. They were very supportive. They still are. Mum has given up her career to look after us and dad looks after my work.

Have you started making friends in the industry now?
(Chuckles) I wasn’t averse to making friends anyway. I met a lot of my contemporaries at award functions in the recent months. I do keep in touch with a couple of them. But I don’t believe in using ‘friends’ to propel my career. That’s not the idea. We’re either friends for life or not.

Isn’t Salman Khan a dear ‘friend’? What’s with Salman and you?
He’s a colleague; I’ve worked with him. There’s nothing more, nothing less. Even justifying it has become a big joke! Linking up co-stars is an outdated pre-publicity stunt for films. Salman’s a chilled out guy, very supportive. We have a good professional rapport.

It’s said that he has gifted you a house.
That’s silly. I’ve been living in the same house ever since I shifted to Mumbai. I hadn’t even met Salman then. The media has got him to gift me a house, someone to do the interiors and even adorned my walls with his paintings and posters.