What’s on your iPod? I actually don’t use an iPod. I listen to FM radio and I prefer old film songs. Kishore Kumar’s classics are all-time favourites.
What’s your DVD pick? Definitely The Godfather. I revisit that film every once in a while.
Your favourite romantic scene in a movie? The scene in Sholay when Amitabh Bachchan sees Jaya Bhaduri for the first time. It’s dusk and she’s lighting lamps in her house.
Which actor you would love to go on a date with and why? I would love to go on a date with Renuka Shahane because I find her very romantic and it also helps that she is my wife.
Which dialogue have you mouthed in front of the mirror the most? The dialogue from Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug when Ashwathama speaks holding a bow in his hand. I have rehearsed that particular dialogue so many times.
Who inspired you to become an actor? My spiritual guru, Pandit Sree Dev Prabhakar Shastri on whose advice I went to the National School of Drama and studied acting. And of course Amitabh Bachchan is a constant source of inspiration. I grew up memorising not just his dialogues but also songs and scenarios from classics like Namak Halal.
The worst film you ever watched? Filhaal and more recently a film called Sindhi/ Hindi Film - The Awakening Which film you wish you could be a part of ? Omkara. I love the character of Langda Tyagi.
What makes you an actor? I believe in expressing everything one experiences.
I’m also a very ambitious person and I realise that in one lifetime, one can’t play all the parts one wants to play. Acting offers that possibility and more than anything else, it’s a route to salvation rather than solution.
Quiz: From which movie is this dialogue: Saadharan manushya, mitti ke bane hue aag se nahin khelte? No idea. (Correct answer: Suryavanshi)