With Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna heading for release, Abhishek Bachchan took time out to speak to MSN India and MovieTalkies exclusively. Excerpts:

Could you begin by telling us something about your character?

I play the character of Rishi Talwar, who runs an event management company in New York. He is in his late twenties-early thirties, married to his childhood sweetheart, played by Rani Mukherjee, and his father is played by my own father. He is a very happy-go-lucky guy who does not stress about life too much. He loves his wife profusely and is completely embarrassed by his father! But he is very happy with the directions that life is taking. He loves the fact that he can come back home to a woman who truly adores him, mothers him and loves him. Then life takes a turn and certain events happen in his life where he has to take a stop in his life and decide whether he should remain the same old boy or grow up into a mature man.

What was it like when Karan first approached you for the film?

It was exhilarating! I remember we had a small get-together party to celebrate the success of Dhoom, and the next morning Karan showed up and offered me the film. It was just a brief one-liner because he was still writing at that point in time, but it was wonderful. It was a dream working with Karan and this film is very close to my heart because I used to go on his sets earlier and hoped that one day I would get an opportunity to work with him. He is definitely one of my favorite directors and it was a pleasure working with him.

What is that one thing that you like about Karan as a director?

The one thing that I like about Karan most as director is that he is completely unapologetic about his cinema, about the films that he makes. He has come under a lot of criticism about the kind of films that he makes as people feel that he is unrealistic and opulent. But Karan believes in a particular vision, goes after it, and achieves it. He believes in opulence, almost decadent opulence. He believes in melodrama and that's exactly what his films mirror and it's wonderful that at a time when Indian cinema is leaning towards realism and subtlety, Karan is one director who is not affected by anybody else. He continues to make great cinema, the golden age cinema where you have huge sets, big actors, big emotions, good songs, great dialogues, lots of trolley movement and drama. I think it's so nice. What's even better about Karan is that he has evolved with time. He loves his style of cinema but he has infused it brilliantly with today's way of thinking, today's approach. I think it is a great fusion of two different styles. So his ability to mix these two different things is his greatest asset as a director.

What is the one thing that you don't like about Karan?

It is very difficult not to like Karan as a director. As for a person, I pretty much dislike most of the things that he does. But as a director it is very very hard to find a fault. Just the way he loves his actors, it's not just about an efficient production team taking care of you but you genuinely know when Karan looks into your eyes and tells you to do a shot or is explaining a scene, you can see how possessive and loving he is towards his actors. It is a very honest emotion. He genuinely loves his actors.

KANK is about extra-marital affairs… do you think Karan should have selected such a subject?

Why not? Karan is a director and as a director your duties are to make films that are close to your heart, and on subjects that you believe in. This is obviously a subject that he believes in and is convinced about. He is a director and a storyteller; and he has told a wonderful story.

Tell us something about your co-stars in the film?

What more can a relatively new actor ask for, with Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee in the film. You feel happy just for the opportunity to stand in the same frame that they are in. This the first time that I ever worked with Preity and believe me, I had always looked forward to working with her. And what's more, I got this opportunity in Karan's film! Rani and I have done lots of films together and it was great fun to get back on camera with her. Same thing with dad, to essay a completely different type of relationship with him was very exciting. It was my first time with Shah Rukh and I sincerely hope that it is not the last. Although I had the least amount of work with Shah Rukh, it was a great learning experience to work with somebody like him. Only when you work in a film with talent like Karan, Rani, Preity, Shah Rukh and dad that you realize the amount of input they put in to get such amazing outputs. And it makes you realize so quickly how far you have to go and how much more you need to achieve.

Which is your favorite song in the film?

My favorite song in the film is definitely "Mitwa' which is shot on Shahrukh and Rani.

Could you tell us about your shooting experience in New York - it was a rather long outdoor shoot for around three to four months…

The best part about being with the Dharma family is that it is a family and like what K3G said, it's all about loving your parents, and loving everybody you work with. I just loved the atmosphere during the outdoor shoot, apart from material comforts that you have, it's the first unit that I had such a long outdoor with where truly everybody felt for each other as a family member. We would be helping each other with our bags after pack-up and had dinner together. Dad was considered as the head of the family. So it truly felt like a family type of atmosphere whether it was on the sets or after pack-up. Everybody was always together, we used to eat together, go to the gym together etc. it was just a great sense of bonding so much so that our American crew started doing things that we would do. I think that speaks volumes about the production and their attitude towards film-making. In today's world where we have cut throat professionalism here we have the Dharma family who is doing the total opposite and yet making films which I think are absolutely brilliant.

In conclusion, your favorite scene from the film?

Well, I have not seen the entire film so I don't know about other actors' scenes, but from the scenes that I have seen and I have been a part of, there is a scene between Rani and me wherein we meet after a long period of time where we try to put our past demons to rest and I think that's a wonderfully written scene. It is one of Karan's best written scenes, very touching and honest. It must have taken lots of guts for Karan to write this scene. It is very close to his heart and now it has become very close to my heart too. I just loved the honesty of the emotions and the simplicity and the innocence of the scene, though it was a tough scene to perform.