All the newcomers are my friends. I wish all of them luck as they wish for me. It's like a brotherhood. It could be Neil, Sikandar, Harman, Imaad...

Sanjay Bhansali knows exactly what he wants. Was it hard being his leading man?

Sanjayji is a perfectionist, and he's worked with such greats as Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. Him working with newcomers means the expectation is on him: what kind of a performance will he take out from the newcomers. I can't gauge how well I've done, if I've kept up to his expectations. I worked really hard and Sanjayji is really, really happy with my performance. The biggest compliment he gave me was at the music launch when he said 'you are the true successor of Raj Kapoor.'

Coming back to your question, there were a lot of stories that Sanjayji would shout a lot, would scold Sonam and me. There was nothing like that. The three of us are like a family: we go out for dinners, movies... Now, if he has certain kind of expectations about our performances, he has the right to shout at us. At the end of the day when you see yourself on screen, you're just thankful to the man that he did that to us. Without that, I wouldn't be able to do this performance.

Finally, speaking of Mr Bhansali's stars and Shah Rukh Khan, how does it feel going up against him on the year's most-awaited opening weekend?

Honestly, I'm so nervous and excited about it being my debut film that I can't worry about things like that. Yes, I respect Shah Rukh Khan a lot, and I've been a fan of his. I hope his film does well, and our film does well too.

Just that our film does a little better.

Also read: Saawariya's stars descend on TV

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