`He is not our teacher or a preacher. But he is our boss and a very cool and good looking boss,` Athiya told IANS.
Directed by Nikhil Advani, "Hero", which released on September 11, is a remake of veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai's 1983 hit film of the same name.
Athiya was seen alongside actor Aditya Pancholi's son Sooraj in the film.
Athiya feels acting can never be learned in a confined space of a film school, but on the sets and being in action.
`We did workshop before our film started for three months to get a better sense of our characters, script, scenes and worked a lot on that. But I feel that you don't need to go to a school to understand the craft as you learn with each film,` said Athiya, who went to a film school in New York.