Would you consider Jhoom Barabar Jhoom to be the film where you got your breakthrough role?
“Well yes, it is breakthrough in the sense that it brought me a lot of recognition for my performance. Now I have all these film banners approaching me with roles. I’d say it’s quite phenomenal how they’ve come to recognize me as an actor.”

Now with Partner it seems as though you’re poised to enter Bollywood’s A-list.
“Such recognition has come after a long time for me. There have ups and downs in my career, but thankfully none of that has kept me down. This is my first film with Salman, it’s a project that we started one-and-a-half year ago.”

So, what held it up?
“Well, Salman was busy with his court cases and after that all of us became involved with our projects. I became completely involved with Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Bhagam Bhag, the others also got busy with their own projects. But we hadn’t done much back then besides shooting a few scenes. Now, we’ve been able to recreate the film giving it a contemporary look.”

You played the role of a tabloid journalist in Partner, what do you think about them?
“There are some days I wake up thinking how much I love them and there are others where I want to kill them! It’s a love-hate relationship I share with them. Everybody has to make a living so they can pay their bills. If the story adds to the essence of journalism then I welcome it. But I also understand the pressures of an editor to sometimes sensationalize stories. In this film you’ll see me hanging out of windows, being chased by goons and doing all sorts of crazy things.”

Did you feel like a famous outsider to Bollywood at any point of your career?
“Not really, my first film Andaaz had done well. I’ve worked with Dharma productions and Yash Raj Films. I’m an outsider in the sense that I don’t restrict myself to any camp.”

It’s not widely known that you’re the cousin of popular UK music composer Nitin Sawhney, do you regularly keep in touch with him?
“Yes of course I do. I love his music and I think he’s just great. He’s pretty popular all over the world, it’s just that here in India we have different music sensibilities. Nitin is actually a very low-key guy. He actually turned down an honor that was bestowed upon him by the queen.”

Recently there was a lot of buzz about your relationship with Kelly Dorjee, what brought that on?
“Beats me”

Would you agree that in celebrity relationships, when one person becomes more recognized than the other it tends to make the relationship more complex?
“Well that depends on whose view it is” (smiles)

Where did you learn French from, you had a very nice French accent in Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom...?
"I know many languages, I am a linguistic at heart, so I took it as a challenge. Moreover I also asked all the crewmembers and individuals present on the set to speak in a proper French accent, so that I could pick it up fast.... "