Just be yourself. Be honest, work towards a goal, and you'll achieve it.

If I am told to be at a shoot at 10 A.M., I am ready on time. By 11:30, I lose my patience. After that, I keep threatening to leave the sets if they don't begin soon. It works sometimes.

I have kissed in almost all the films except in 'Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai.' I'm not sure if my kissing on screen has anything to do with the success of a film, but producers make sure to put a kissing scene or two. They feel my kissing scenes are my lucky streak.

With my physicality and my face, I don't think I could pull off a completely righteous guy. There's something devious about my eyes. I like characters with flaws and to see how they overcome those flaws. I want to play real people, and they're flawed, not perfect.

I used to do films for money earlier. I never knew what perception meant. I didn't give too much attention to scripts. It was either to buy a house or to buy a car. There was a certain frivolity to the way I used to pick up things. I wasn't taking my career seriously.

As an actor, I was not accepted for the longest time. But it did not deter me, as the audience had accepted me. I never compared myself with any other actors. I never had any game plan and took whatever came my way.

The effort always remains that my new film outdoes my last in terms of performance and gets better box office success. Box office is the sole reason why I do films.

I tried to dance in my earlier films, but it was more like struggling to stay afloat once you are thrown into the water.

I burned down my backyard as a seven-year-old. I poured kerosene over dried leaves and set the whole place on fire, just for fun. Yeah, not a very normal thing to do.

I am not good at first or second impressions, and you have to spend some time with me to know me. Also, I don't want to put my best foot forward and prove something, as that is not me. I would rather be me and have you like me for who I am, instead of being someone else.

Everyone who means well gives advice based on his or her perception. I have realized that while it's important to hear the suggestions, one should only listen to oneself.

Sometimes I know a film might not pull the audience to the theatres and have a great collection at the box office. But I need to do these films for creative satisfaction and give something different to the audience.

My films have a bold interpretation. They are unapologetic about showing intimacy. Going by the number of people who come to watch my films, this is what our target audience yearns for.

I am tired of kissing on screen. I have to do it because it is synonymous with me. Also, the producers and directors want to add that element. I don't give it too much importance.

Somewhere after you have few successful films, there is a fear of losing what you have got. It is very easy in the beginning, as you are a risk taker, have nothing to lose, and there is no perception about you.

I am not doing comedy because the genre is successful. If that was the case, I would have done a run-of-the-mill comedy film. I set my own trends. I like to give something new and different to my audiences. I want to do the kind of comedy that has been missing till now.

I don't know the definition of a star; I am just an actor. I prefer doing hard work, as I feel luck can't do much in absence of hard work. I am a lazy person - when I entered into this industry, I thought it was a cakewalk, but I have realised it needs a lot of patience and hard work.

I was an assistant director for a year, and I realized, 'God, this is a lot of hard work. This is going to take time. So what's the shortcut? What's the better option?' Then thankfully, someone said, 'Why don't you become an actor?'

I go for a couple of parties; you won't find me at every film party and never at award ceremonies. I tried attending for the first three to four years, and I've performed at award shows. I sat in them, and I've also exited pretty fast from them. It's just not my place. I'd rather get their adulation in a cinema hall.

I generally like grey roles. My interpretation of drama is different from the popular perception. Acting, for me, is not about overplaying, it is about concealing. I like flawed characters that people relate to. I would never do a romcom.

In my career, I have played a gangster, an ex cop, a journalist and a film director. Yet, the label of a serial kisser refuses to leave me.

I feel I should never do passive characters. They don't work for me.

When in college, I would hardly attend classes. In fact, we would go to other colleges and hang out there. Every six months, my friends and I would hit the roads and go to Goa. We weren't rich kids, and our trips were on shoestring budgets. But, we hardly cut down on the fun.

I used to believe that the number eight is unlucky for me and would even avoid anything that would add up to 8 - like 17, 26 and so on. I would religiously visit astrologers and wear different stones to bring in good luck.

I did B com but realised that it was not my cup of tea. I was always fascinated by animation, and after I completed my course, I wanted to go abroad and pursue it. I used to sketch a lot and was rather serious about it. But all this was until I joined films.

Even as a child, when kids my age would watch cartoons, I preferred watching horror flicks. I had watched some Hollywood horror flicks and even films made by the Ramsay brothers by the time I was six! I have always been biased towards that genre.

After I tasted success with erotic thrillers, a time came when I was being offered only films belonging to that genre. The industry loves repeating a success formula, and the audience had formed a certain image of mine in their minds.

Sometimes, I feel promoting a film is a more difficult task than acting!

I was never really interested in studies and was hot-headed and rebellious in college, as I was totally confused and insecure but was not coming to terms with it.

If someone pulls me down, I pull them down, as I don't feel I should live my life in the way other people want me to. If they have a problem with my films, I can rip off their films, be it comedy or their family dramas, which are low on content and have over-theatrical acting.

As for my looks, if I didn't look the way I do, I would probably be one of those many faces doing a romcom, which I detest. The way I look has somewhere defined the characters I played. My weakness has become my strength.