Your performance has been appreciated in Jungle. How does it feel?
I am feeling good about it. It is nice. This also means that something inthe film has worked, which indicates that we have spent the last sevenmonths trying to do something right (laughs).

Were you nervous regarding the film?
We were all anxious about it, but not nervous as such. Ramu is soexperienced. He has directed about 14 films. I feel I am definitely betteroff than I was in my first film, in terms of handling the pressure of therelease.

Is this your comeback film?
(Laughs) Hey! I never ran away anywhere, so where is the question of comingback? I don't think I can categorise Jungle as my comeback film. It is justmy second release.

In the film you are shown as a guy who lives for his girlfriend. Is thattrue in real life as well?
That I live for my girlfriend? Well, I live for myself.

Compared to the time you entered the film industry, you have a lot morecompetition now with Hritik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan having made theirdebuts?
I don't view their entries into filmdom in terms of competition. It is notlike we are all running a 100-metre race. The variables are different foreach one. We have our own specialities, which we try to capitalise on, andweaknesses, which we try to hide, of course!

So what would you term as your speciality?
I don't know if you can call it a speciality, but I try to be as natural aspossible on screen. I am not a very stylised actor, and try to be true tothe emotions that I have to portray. I tried that in my first film, itdidn't work. Let us see if it works this time.

Do you think it's important for a hero to look macho?
If the role demands that he look macho, then he must. Though, instead ofshowing off a tough physique on screen, it would be better if an actorshowed his histrionics!

Is it true that Ramgopal Varma is very happy with your performance inJungle?
Well, he is producing two films in which I am acting. Yes, he is reasonablyhappy. He has been generous with his compliments. Coming from him, I do takethem as compliments because he rarely pays compliments. He doesn't likepaying compliments.

Any funny or unforgettable incidents while shooting in the jungle?
We were all bitten by bamboo-ticks! And we didn't even know we had beenbitten until we began to scratch! And once there was this herd of wildelephants that went by. That was a bit scary, though I followed them all theway into the thick forest. That was fun. For me, it was just the wholeexperience in general because we were in the middle of this jungle and therewas nothing to do! No television, no distractions.

How was the experience of working with Ramgopal Varma, Sunil Shetty andUrmila?
Sunil was great. Both Urmila and Sunil were very cooperative and open todiscussion and ideas. Sunil gave me a lot of tips on action as well assafety tips. Urmila was friendly, though people told me that she isunfriendly. Ramu is solely an actor's director and spends a lot of timeworking with his actors. His characters are well defined.

Which are your forthcoming films?
My father's (Feroz Khan's) film is still in the pre-production stage. I amdoing my next film with Venus. There are films with Mehul Kumar, PahlajNihalani and Anees Bazmee. I like to space out my films as much as possibleand thus concentrate on them better. I like to take four or five days off inbetween each schedule. I like to spend more time on the character that I amplaying, otherwise you just end up playing yourself and repeating yourselfin film after film. I believe in giving each character a different shape andcolour, as much as possible. Otherwise, at the end of the day, you feel thatyou've done nothing.