Khan Sahab ne bola... against Kangu and Big B

The actor dabbles in different cinemas, turns producer with a subject he believes in and gears up to rock out with Sushant Singh Rajput next.

The floor is stone, a champa tree flowers in the balcony garden, folk art adorns the walls, a jhoola sways enticingly and the soft strains of Rabindra Sangeet spill over from one of the rooms within. Irrfan Khan's new apartment in Andheri can almost make you forget you are in the city, but as he strives to find his own corners, the actor admits his heart is still in his Madh Island home.

So why did he move, you wonder, and he reveals that it's because his two sons, Babil and Ayan, were threatening divorce as their friends couldn't visit. "Travelling too was getting difficult every day. For a year I insisted that anyone who wanted to meet me had to come there, it was a filteration process of sorts," he laughs, admitting that whenever he called Sai Kabir, director of the upcoming Divine Lovers, he'd complain that crossing over on the ferry reminded him of Apocalypse Now.

While on Divine Lovers, apparently Kangana Ranaut has exited and Zareen Khan has entered the picture. He dismisses this as "wrong reporting" but agrees that working with Kangana today is difficult because she's insisting on and getting 'hero' roles, so the other lead is relegated to a supporting part. Buzz is, Ketan Mehta wants to pair them in Begum Akhtar. He retorts, "It'll suit Kangana since it's the title role, I haven't heard from Ketan or heard the role so I can;t comment."

Piku definitely wasn't a supporting role yet he got pushed into this category and didn't even win an award. He frowns, "Some people with power and resources manipulate these things. It's part of the game and works for some time, but I haven't built my career on this. It's the audience that eventually makes and breaks you and they know that Piku was not a supporting role."

The smile returns when you bring up Homi Adajania's next in which he plays the rockstar mentor of Sushant Singh Rajput. He informs that the director has been coming to him for years with every script and insisted he do this one, even though it's not a big role. "But it's a larger-thanlife, intriguing character born out of a friendly association with Homi and Dino (producer Dinesh Vijan)," Irrfan grins, adding that when he dropped by Homi's office in a cap and a beard, the director told him this was the 'look' he wanted. "For years I've wanted to do a film on music. The Song of Scorpions and this film are just trailers, some day I'm going to play music on screen."

There's been talk about him playing poet-lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gustakhiyan. Irrfan sighs, "I'm dying to play Sahir but I can only wait patiently. I trust Bhansali and whenever he comes to me, I'll be happy to do it. Kya gaane likhe the like "Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawanon Ka", I had no idea till recently he'd written this one too," he says, pointing to a book on Sahir lying on the table. There's also "Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai" with which the film will supposedly end with. "Yeh line to mujhe bolna hi hai, if not on screen, I will record it and put it up on YouTube," he promises.

Meanwhile, he has Madaari, produced by him, coming up, about a modern world out of sync. And in the bigger scheme of things, a layman gets left behind. "There's a lot which is wrong with our world despite a responsible government's best efforts, including the judiciary and lack of accountability," the actor sighs, pointing to the high towers outside his window and informing that when he was living in Goregaon, he'd fought for the mangroves and now he's walking in peace marches to educate neighbours on the dangers of radiation. "We're talking to the BMC too about these illegal structures."

Returning to Madaari he says that the encouraging response to Piku which followed no formula or crutches, had no story or conflict, and Talvar which engaged the audience with all its realism, dark humour, information overload and verbosity, has convinced him that the audience is hungry for interesting subjects. "This is the best time for the industry. Today, a director shoots a song on iPhone and it goes viral. If we don't experiment now, when will we? I don't make 'time-pass' films, I was convinced that Madaari could entertain and make an impression, so I jumped on board as producer," he explains, admitting that money matters wife Sutapa wil handle while he will put a team and budget together.

Next up is Inferno in the Dan Brown series. He admits that during the first rehearsal, he told the writer that even though he'd read the novel, he wanted a 10-page synopsis explaining the intriguing plot. "Ron (Howard) will simplify the complications," he promises, adding that the director kept thanking him through the shoot for choosing to play Harry Sims 'The Provost' instead of Christoph Bruder, the role offered to him initially. "That was a powerful negative role, this one is shorter but there was more to explore here."

Every month he is reading at least two scripts from the West, has just turned down a smallbudget comedy and a film set in the Middle East. Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan are the two names that sell abroad today. "Priyanka has made it big real soon in a tough industry. She knows how to do it and deserves praise. I'm sure Deepika (Padukone) will make it too," he asserts, insisting that after Slumdog Millionaire, the West is looking to India for stories and talent while he is looking to one of our directors going to the US and making a film for an international audience. "Sriram Raghavan, Vishal Bhardwaj, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Shimit Amin, Dibakar Banerjee and Navdeep Singh have great sensibilities. They just need the infrastructure and the right team," he signs off.