You had worked with Mani Ratnam for the first time in Yuva, wherein you were one of the leads amongst two others. How has the experience been with Mani this time around, especially since you are playing the title role?

The experience was the same. In Yuva I had two other men in the lead and so is the case with Guru where I have Mithunda and Madhavan with me. It is a journey, as it always is when you are working with Mani Sir, and it is no doubt a very fruitful journey.

You have a very unconventional look in Guru, a film, which sees your age from a young man to an elderly one. Weren't you worried that your huge female base would be disappointed seeing today's hottest looking actor as an old overweight man?

Guru is a film, which has been very demanding, very complex, but a film that has been very rewarding eventually. I don't think actors work for vanity; I think we work to enact an interesting character. We do what the character demands from us. We don't go with a certain thinking, at least I never think that, 'my God, I shouldn't put on weight' or 'I shouldn't look old' or any such other conceptions because I think that the audience won't like it. The audience comes in to watch a film, to see the performance and to get entertained. So you have to do whatever needs to be done in order to achieve that. In a film like Guru, the physical aspect of the way he looked is very important to the narrative of the story. Hence you do what it takes. You don't really think, 'oh My God, what will the women think!' And I don't think they think like that, so why should we?

Other than gaining weight for the role, did you have to undergo any other preparation for the film?

You have to prepare for every film. In a film like Guru, I had to undergo certain changes like aging and putting on weight. But end of the day, every film is demanding and requires a lot of preparation.

In today's day and age of multi-starrers you play the lead role in Guru, in the real sense of the word. Not just in terms of footage but also in the way the story is weaved together. How does it feel to carry the weight of the entire movie on your shoulders?

No one actor carries the entire weight of the film on his shoulders. Filmmaking has never been about one particular person. It is most definitely not about the actor. It is about a team. Guru is a film, which is made by a team of very accomplished people from Mani Ratnam to Rajiv Menon to A R Rehman to Gulzar Saab to Vijay Krishna Acharya and then down to the actors. It is a huge team, which has come together to make a film. We had a common goal to make an entertaining film called Guru. So the credit in actual sense goes to them. We shoulder the burden of the film together. It's never about one particular person, its always about the film and the team.

You once commented in an episode of Koffee with Karan, that you would like to run in slow motion with Mallika Sherawat. Now you have done a song and a few scenes with her in Guru, did you finally get to run in slow motion with her?

(hides a smile) No, I wanted to, but unfortunately I had to run alone and she just watched.

Do you relate to a person like Guru? What is the story all about?

To put it as simply as I can, Guru is the story of a man, a young villager, who has a dream and who sets about achieving that dream. I like to believe that it's the story of any common man or woman. It's the story of how hard work and a never-say- die attitude will always help you achieve what you set out to achieve. It's the story of a dreamer, somebody who has a dream, and goes out to achieve that dream, the reflection of what I would like to believe, is most people in today's day and age have. The most concise way to say, what is Guru all about – Guru is all about Gurukant Desai and his rise from a small villager to becoming the most powerful man in the country. I think the greatness of the character of Gurukant Desai is the endeavors that everybody can relate to him. What I like about the character is that even after he has achieved what he has set out to achieve and he despite of being very powerful, very rich, he can still relate to the common man on the streets. What is special about the film is that each and every person, from the one living in a posh area of South Mumbai, to someone living in a small village in the interiors, can relate to this film.

You are also in an industry, which is about the survival of the fittest and cut-throat competition. How far would you personally bend the rules in this industry to ensure your success?

There is no point doing that because you cannot ensure success. Our success as actors depends on two things, our state of mind and our audience. Our audience is of paramount importance because they are the people who make us; we work for the audience. If they deem us fit to be successful then we are successful. We cannot ensure success, they ensure our success. There is no point getting in to competition in the first place. Secondly, it is your state of mind; if you go and do a film and when you come out of it you are proud of what you have done and are happy that you are part of the film, irrespective of the box office fate at the end of the day, then I think you should feel successful. I am very very proud of Guru. I am very proud that I got the opportunity to work with Mani Sir again. I am very happy with the end product.

How was the experience working with Aishwariya?

The chemistry is something that the audience decides. And whatever they decide is their opinion and is for them to judge. This is my fourth film with Ashwariya and like the past three it was a lot of fun working with her.

What will be your message to the audience?

There is just one message always – Thank you for all your love and your belief. And all I can do is to try and repay them, but that is not possible, because we are truly very indebted to he audience. The only thing that I can do, is to try and entertain the audience and keep acting, if you'll allow me and say thank you for all the support that you have extended towards me. I really hope that you enjoy Guru and go and see the film in the theatres, please don't buy pirated DVD's or VCD's.