Imran Khan on the absence of releases, changing equations and why he's not afraid of anyone stealing his film.

In 2013, I had three releases, films I'd been working on all year, and I was exhausted. There was a decline in quality too. Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na and Delhi Belly had been made with a lot of care and I wanted to function within those parameters again. I've never been insecure so not having a release doesn't bother me. I can't do two films simultaneously or jump from one project to the next.

Is that why you pushed Katti Batti ahead by three months?
Around the time I committed to Nikhil (Advani), we learnt that Avantika was pregnant. We'd have started filming close to her due date. I wanted to be with my wife in the last months of her term and the baby in the first three months so I asked Nikhil to push the shoot from June to September.

And you also parted ways with Vikramaditya Motwane who replaced you with Sidharth Malhotra in his fantasy flick, Bhavesh Joshi, but has since shelved it, saying this is not the right time to talk about corruption.
Vick and I parted ways early last year. He and I were seeing the film differently. Since I couldn't ask him to compromise on his vision, I bowed out, even though the subject had potential. And despite the achche din, I don't think the city can put corruption behind it in the next five years.

There's talk about Kangana Ranaut wanting scripting credit, directing Katti Bati and sitting on the editing...
Editing sounds implausible, and asking for script credit would be unfair to the writer Anshul Singhal as the creative inputs are what any thinking actor would give. As for directing, the opening scene has us lying in bed and it wasn't possible for the crew, even the cinematographer, to be in the room. So we shot it ourselves with an iPad. (Smiles) I operated the camera too and left the direction to Nikhil.

Why don't we hear such stories about you?
My phone is usually off or on silent. I don't call up journalists and publicists to write stuff or shut up. I'm only interested in making movies. And I discuss the creative process with my director and co-stars.