'My brother, my hero' Why Uday Chopra worships big brother Adi.

Shyam Bhatia in London

Uday Chopra has been striding the London stage with a broad smile and loads of confidence that his second foray into the world of cinema will win him the accolades he was denied in Mohabbatein.

But even if the film does not get the box office grade he is aiming for, Uday Chopra says he knows he did his best.

On the eve of the release of Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, filmed in Mumbai, Jaipur and Switzerland, the budding 29 year old star told rediff.com, "I am not nervous. I just haven't had time to think. Not necessarily that I am great, but I feel as a person that I have a positive attitude. We all did our best."

The confidence he exudes is doubtless connected to his illustrious pedigree and he himself is the first to admit that as Yash Chopra's son there is nothing he has been denied in his life.

"I don't act to survive", he admits with a disarming modesty in the basement of the London hotel where he and his co stars, Jimmy Shergill and newfind Sanjana, have been holding forth about the virtues of their film.

"I only do the roles that excite me, thats why I haven't gone for everything."

In many ways Uday's own real life experiences mirror those of the character he plays in Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai. As the dilettante Sanjay who has everything, he finally has to fight for something he really cares about when his childhood sweetheart decides to get married.

As the lemon in the middle Sanjay has to prove to Anjali ( played by Sanjana) that he is a better prospect than than the debonair and charming NRI, Rohit (Jimmy Shergill), who is about to sweep her off her feet.

"I first heard of the script over a year ago when I was here in London, staying at the same hotel. My brother told me the story and I told him, 'I will do it'. Thats how it all started off. I really think the world of my brother - if he's excited, I'm excited."

In fact big brother Aditya is something of an icon for Uday who says he is closer to him than he is to either his mother or his father. He also parises Aditya as the driving force behind Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, saying, "he brought the whole film together, it was his concept, his idea."

Among the others that Uday says he is close to include Hrithik Roshan, whom he describes as a close friend, and Shah Rukh Khan with whom he worked in his debut film Mohabbatein.

"I had seen him in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge", Uday explains, "and of course we acted together in Mohabbatein. But I have also seen him as a person and know how much energy and hard work he invests in whatever he is doing. He's amazing, just fabulous."

Although Shah Rukh is instantly recognisable wherever he goes, Uday for the first time has also been attracting attention on the streets of London. His easy going smile and deliberately unpretentious dress code - red T-shirt, loafers, casual blue jeans - seem to strike a chord with people of London winding down for the summer.

Asked what challenges him, Uday replies, "Everything challenges me, so long as I am doing a film. I also believe if something is worth doing, its worth doing well. I take everything in life like that."

He has no desire, he says, to follow his big brother steps by getting into direction. Shuddering at the thought, he says, "I hope I never have to direct, the only reason that would be if I was unhappy with acting."

One of his unfulfilled ambitions to date is to star in an English language film. He chooses London, the centre of the English speaking world, to announce, "I would love to do an English film. I am very comfortable with English. I grew up watching Hollywood sit coms and in day to day life I would say that my English is better than my Hindi."