I'm competitive with Rani:Saif

By Subhash K Jha

Idle talk about Saif warring with Rani in New York during the making of Tara Rum Pum has the affable actor amused and annoyed.

"I know there were stories of bitter quarrels between me and Rani. But if these were true why would we be doing a third film together? Yes, we're in Kunal Kohli's next. I like working with both Rani and Kunal. I must admit it wasn't so in the beginning with Kunal.

But during Hum Tum I established a comfort level with him and now I can easily work with him in project after project. As for Rani, She was good in Hum Tum. I'm competitive with her because she's a really talented actor. I just want to be better than her on screen.

Even as a person I vibe with her. We did sit around and talk quite a lot, though we can't claim to be close friends."

Saif is all praise for director Siddharth Anand. "It's always fun working with Siddharth and that crazy bunch. In Salaam Namaste half the crew was Australian.

In Tara Rum Pum half the crew was American. We started off not understanding each other. Then everyone got drunk and started loving each other, giving gaalis in Hindi."

Saif explains how the collaborative spirit changed between the two films he did with Siddharth. " In Salaam Namaste it was more me than him. This time it's more him than me. Salaam…. was based on performances.

In Tara Rum Pum Pum Siddharth is the real star. Very often the moments took over, and I didn't have to do much. And the two child actors were fabulous."

Saif's last release Eklavya didn't do all that well in India.

He disagrees. "It wasn't a disappointment for me. I read the script and I liked certain things in it. I had certain expectations from the film, and they were fulfilled. Above all, I wanted to work with Mr Bachchan.

Failure or success, I don't have to take responsibility. There're much bigger warriors in the film to take credit or flak. You can make out my importance in Eklavya from the Ravan-like arrangement of the heads in the poster.

I believe mine is the smallest. It's Mr Bachchan, Jackie, Boman, Vidya and then me. We can blame my mom (Sharmila Tagore) also."