“I was never nervous about my film’s release, I was only apprehensive about the photo shoots where I had to look into the camera and hold my smile,” laughs the 25-year-old, who has a striking resemblance to his superstar uncle, Aamir Khan. “I wake up every morning expecting to feel scared but I’m not.”

The house bears testament to the bonds in the family. “We are a very close family and this bungalow is our nerve centre. Maamu (Aamir Khan) has always pushed me — never to become an actor but always to find my own path. Whatever I have learnt from him is on the personal level and not as an actor. He never looks at his watch when he’s working,” says Khan, munching on a chicken sandwich that has his dog, Kajri, salivating.

And yet there was a time when the younger Khan hated everything about his uncle. “Till I was 14, Mansoor and he would rag me endlessly. Today I admire him tremendously and it’s hard for me to disagree when I see his clarity of thought,” says Khan.

Jaane Tu... is a rom-com about college friends falling in love. “I’m a serious and intense person and I found the dramatic scenes easier to do,” Khan confides. “The light-hearted ones were tougher.” Interestingly, Khan wanted to be a writer and had actually gone to meet Abbas Tyrewala, the film’s director, to tell him his scripts were being stolen, and the latter told him to try his hand at acting.

More about the debutant? He’s a computer freak, voracious reader and movie buff, and declares with refreshing nonchalance that he has a girlfriend, pretty Avantika who works for a production house. Khan has two more projects coming up: he has already completed shooting for Sanjay Gadhvi’s Kidnap and there is Soham Shah’s Luck. “Luck has an unusual script and I realised I had never heard anything like it when Soham narrated the first line itself. I’m taking my time choosing my films and am not going on a signing spree as I don’t want to use the number of films as a security blanket,” Khan reasons.

As for the other newbie Harman Baweja’s Love Story 2050 affecting the opening of his film, as they are releasing simultaneously, the new lover boy smiles, “At the end of the day, it’s the quality of the film that matters. If it’s good, it will be watched by all.” And then he adds: “Anyway, newcomers are necessary for the industry to move forward. The more the merrier.”

Imran Gyan

* Studied in Coonoor

* Studied filmmaking at New York Film Academy

* Was seen in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak as a child actor

* Hates to train or gym