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Imran Khan
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Actor Imran Khan has come to DNA in character for his next movie — a beard, ear studs (for which he went ahead and pierced his ears) and a kada. He says he didn’t want to do the artificial-earring-thing for the look, because ‘they look terrible’.
Asked if he tends to follow his uncle’s (actor Aamir Khan) perfectionistic tendencies and it’s a long reply: “I don’t think he would call himself a perfectionist. He would say he is the guy who works hard, who tries to do the best job that he can and that’s the way I’m brought up, that’s the way my parents have brought me up. That’s what I have seen in my family from Aamir, to my uncle Mansoor, my mother and father. We believe if we are doing a job we do do the best we can.”
He’s wearing a lot of jewellery for a hero, (normally it’s the heroines doing the bling thing) — the in-character kada and ear studs, and then two thick silver rings. So we ask the natural question and this is how it goes:
Are you a jewellery person? You are wearing a lot of it.
I am not a jewellery person at all. This is a wedding ring (points to it) and this is the ring that I designed for Avantika and my third anniversary.
You designed it?
Yes, I designed it. I got matching ones so we both got it and the kada, it’s for the character... I’m supposed to be 88 and tarnishing, otherwise I don’t wear it.
Are you a romantic person?
I don’t know, I never thought of myself as a romantic person. I think of myself to be more of a practical person. To me, romance is… you know, the idea people have of romance, the ideas, the grand gestures — it’s wallpaper. It looks lovely, but it’s not going to hold your house up. It’s not going to keep the moisture out. That unglamorous stuff — bricks and cement and iron bars inside — that’s what’s going to hold your house up and will protect you from the elements. It’s not glamorous, it’s not pretty and nobody likes to talk about that.
And what does wife Avantika has to say about this untarnished view of reality?
She stuck it out with me. To me these unglamorous things don’t make for interesting copy, Ican’t provide a quotable quote on my most romantic gesture ever, but I look back and I think nine and half years downI have a successful relationship which is more than most people can say. So I think I’m doing something right.
For all that emphasis on being unromantic, Imran, in the course of conversation, comes across as being extremely aware of the important things in his life, and his wife is right up there — he cooks to de-stress, and for her, he tries to keep Sundays free for family time.
Imran’s goal, he tells us, is to ‘be happy’: “Really that’s the beginning and the end of it. I want to be happy. I say this very often, life is too short. I want to be happy, I want to have good friends, I want to have a family that loves me and be healthy, have indulgences. I bought myself a Ferrari, something I dreamt of since I was six-seven. I’m one of the happiest people you would meet in your entire life, I kid you not. There are very few people on this earth who are happier than me because I know what’s important for me and I know what’s not important for me and I try to not waste time with things that are not important…”
Who are your friends in the industry? Ranbir?
Ranbir and I are friendly, but I don’t know him long enough to say that he’s my friend. My friends are people,who’ve been my friends for 20 years. I share a tattoo with my best friend for 25 years now.
What tattoo is it?
A sun. He designed it, he’s an artist. When we were 17, we went out together and got the same tattoo. My friends have been my friends for 10-20 years now, who will sit in front of a bus to protect me.
When you were born, were your parents planning to name you Salman?
Yup.
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