Saif Ali Khan wants some action

Actor Saif Ali Khan’s looking fitter than ever before. Back from a three-week romantic Swiss sojourn with girlfriend actor Kareena Kapoor, the Bolly star says, “Apart from bringing unconditional love in my life, Bebo (Kareena) has brought in a healthier lifestyle too.”

Kapoor’s love may have done the trick, but there’s no denying that Khan’s been putting in strenuously long hours working out in the gym too. “My film Agent Vinod requires me to be in my best form. I’m no wrestler in the film, but the role will need extremely rigorous action on my part, and I’m gearing up to give it my best. I hope it’ll see me in my best physical form,” he reveals.

But there’s time for that. Right now, the actor’s setting the Bolly-ball rolling this year with Aarakshan. “It’s an interesting role, but the draw is also the film-maker. One can trust Jha (director Prakash Jha) blindly to come up with a film with the sensibilities in the right place. You know you are in safe hands!” he adds, but not without making it clear that playing safe is not on his agenda as an actor. “I want to be a no-holds barred actor!” The same also applies to his take as a producer. “If you got a good script then, I’ve got the ears. Bring it on,” he says excitedly.

From an intense drama to an action thriller, Saif’s next pit stop is a romantic with his Love Aaj Kal co-star Deepika Padukone. But Saif confesses that he doesn’t “relate to the teeny-bopper romances any more”. “I think the romcoms are anyways overdone in Bollywood. Of course, love never goes out of vogue, but I think it needs to be more relatable for me to take it up,” he says.

But didn’t he want to cast Kapoor opposite him in this one, considering it’s his own production? “It’s not ‘my’, it’s ‘our’ production house,” he corrects. A pause later he adds, “Both of us didn’t want the audiences to feel that the ‘reel love story’ is like an extension to our ‘real love story’. So, I think that it’s more interesting to have the chemistry click in a thriller or a hatke film.”