'I begin the film knowing that I am zero'

'We have to be accepting of who we are and what we are, and not dismiss any side of ourselves.'
'Once you accept everything that you are, it's the better way of living life.'

Hrithik Roshan feels there's "nobody else like me" and with reason.

The Vikram Vedha star explains to Rediff.com Contributor Mohnish Singh, "When I was starting out, I was probably aspiring to be a star and to be acknowledged with that kind of success. Today, what I aspire to is success as an actor."

How do you cope with the huge expectations of the public?

Well, let's put it like this. When I was starting out, I was probably aspiring to be a star and to be acknowledged with that kind of success.

Today, what I aspire to is success as an actor.

I want to know that I have grown.

I want to know that I have been able to satisfy my directors.

I want to know that I have been able to satisfy my audience.

My job is not to be a star, my job is to be an actor.

What are those elements that make you say yes to a film? And when it comes to movies, what is it that you think should change?

If I had to analyse, it could be the emotional impact that the film has had on me, so, you know, if it has really touched me and one has tears.

I look for scripts that affect me on a cellular level.

This scene will make people cry or it will make people laugh.

Are you laughing yourself?

Are you crying?

Because if you are not, they will not laugh or cry.

A lot of times we see something and we think, 'Yes, this will be sad, people will like it. This will be funny, they will laugh.'

But have you laughed?

I think that's the way we should judge if a script has touched us or not.

When I saw Vikram Vedha, it didn't just change my cells, it blew my mind.

It still blows my mind!

I have seen it multiple times and I still watch it with 'Oh, this is how it happened' and I discover new things every time I see the film.

Every time I see the film, I want to ask Pushkar and Gayatri some questions.

After the film, I forget.

Next time I am going to sit with a notepad, I swear!

It is such a complicated script!

I don't know how they have written it in the most simplistic manner.

You said in a previous interview that it was only after KaabilVikram Vedha, it explores the grey side of a person. How relevant is it to explore that dark side?

The short answer is that we have to be accepting of who we are and what we are, and not dismiss any side of ourselves.

Once you accept everything that you are, it's the better way of living life.

Yes, Vedha is the bad guy, but there are sensitivities that are built into him that make him very, very human.

You played a blind man in Kaabil, you were a professor in Super 30 and in this film, you are a gangster. Your mannerisms and appearance in these films were quite different from your other films.

It is the other way round.

Once, when I am done reading a script, and if it is the kind of script I can't say no to, the impact of the script is the deciding factor of what my next actions.

Everything goes organically.

If you watch me from afar, you might feel I am doing a lot of work.

But my work is flowing organically, the script has pushed me so much that I am just going with the flow.

I begin the film knowing that I am zero and I have to now build from scratch.

That's why I am perhaps able to find a new body language or way of talking for each of my characters. When I do that, my shortcomings get camouflaged because I adapt.

I make something that I think will be more acceptable to the audience than what I am as a human being.

That is my process.