Fawad Khan on acting, Pakistan and becoming a director

I’ve never been dying to enter any industry, I enjoy what I do and try to do it as well as I can. When I was offered a role in Khoobsurat, I read the script, met the family (Anil Kapoor and daughters Sonam and Rhea) and felt why not try it. It’s not something that put me off, it was a sweet and nice story and they were great people to work with. I consider myself a put-your-toe-in-the-water kind of a person. I felt this was the perfect opportunity to enter the film industry in India.

I’ve been very lucky for the chance to work with the people that I have. Regarding Kapoor and Sons, I really admire the sensibilities of Shakun Batra and Dharma Productions. They have a very deconstructed manner of working and are very relaxed. Siddharth (Malhotra) is a charming fellow. He’s a very sweet guy, and the whole cast is wonderful! The character I’m playing is a very relaxed guy. It’s a very believable character. The film is about two brothers vying for a girl, but it is nothing like Sabrina. That’s all I can say without giving away too much of the story!

There’s another project in the pipeline but I can’t really discuss it. Battle for Bittora is not happening. It would be an honour to do the film with the Kapoor family, and we’ve certainly discussed the possibility. But at the moment, we’re all too busy. And we’ve got nothing down on paper. There has been a lot of conjecture on me playing Virat Kohli in the Dhoni biopic. But that’s not true either. If I were to be offered the role, I’d definitely consider it, if it is tastefully done.

I’m not a big cricket fan, though. I’d rather watch movies or the History Channel than watch a match. I watch every kind of film, and also listen to all kinds of music. There’s all kinds of stuff on my playlist - Radiohead, Stone Temple Pilots, Porcupine Tree and Pearl Jam. I particularly enjoy thrash metal and ambient music.

I’m a terrible singer, but I used to be a vocalist and songwriter for a Nu Metal band Entity Paradigm. I think part of being a good singer is about finding your voice. Some of the greatest voices in the world are "besura". I won’t name names because fanatic zealots will come at me with their knives out. But I believe that it is more important that a voice has character than technique. Technique helps to take it to the next level, but without texture and authority in your voice, you could sound like any other singer. I think we tend to find beauty in dissonance, otherwise thrash metal wouldn’t find any fans! I haven’t had a chance to get a taste of music in Mumbai as yet. Just the other day, I was discussing music with a friend in Mumbai and was telling him I’d love to catch some live gigs.

While shooting in Pakistan, I tend to improvise my lines a lot. I have not reached that stage here in Bollywood as yet. Besides, if I start adding my own lines here, no one will understand what I’m saying. Everyday words are so different – here for instance, a problem is dikkat not masla. Shashanka (Ghosh, director of Khoobsurat) would get quite irritated with me for using words like that again and again, but I couldn’t help it. I’d definitely like to write for films in the future. I don’t see myself as a dialogue writer but as a screenplay writer and hopefully, one day as a director. Who doesn’t want to get behind the camera and tell a story? As told to Moeena Halim.