Hrithik Roshan talks about Guzaarish, Barbara Mori, Salman Khan, smoking, his 'crazy temper' and his extremism

Hrithik Roshan is shooting for the cover of a film magazine. There's a lot I have to ask, and there's a lot he wants to say. Read on..

What have you learned from the Guzaarish experience?
That you have to always keep learning.

People didn't connect with Guzaarish. Wonder why?
Great films don't necessarily create box office history. Guzaarish is one such work of art. If everything was about cost price and selling price and profit and loss, things that are truly beautiful like poetry and paintings would not exist. Whether they are successes or failures doesn't matter as they exist because they add to life.

In any case, I don't think we can assess box office finality of a film like Guzaarish. While films like Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai and Koi Mil Gaya can't be explored in parts of the world not inclined to the Hindi commercial zone, Guzaarish can travel the globe.

Most actors find it difficult to work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. You managed to change him. How?
(Laughs) He says that. But I have heard him say that my walks affected him. Every time there was any kind of stress, I would get up from the wheelchair and just walk around in silence.

The whole crew would be watching and wondering is he upset or is he focusing on what he has to do or is he just being a star and wasting time they couldn't figure it out. Nobody had the guts to come and ask me because the garb I was wearing the beard, the hair and the clothes were so daunting...

So your walk did the trick
I think he's misunderstood. I've known him for over a You know I do that. When I am finding a solution to some thing or analyzing anything, I pace. In my room, I keep going around the bed. I don't even realise it till some amount of time has passed. But I have never done that in public. Sanjay said the walks calmed him down. I don't know how.

Actors he works with in the future will owe the change to you.
year, and I think that's enough time to assess a person not completely but enough to decide if he is a person I will like and know for the rest of my life.

He's definitely somebody I will always cherish being associated with. I would love to work with him again. He is a sensitive man, a very beautiful soul. Anyway, I don't have any problems with anybody. For me, everybody is good.

On an (unaired) episode of Koffee With Karan, SRK was speaking about love and life. He paused, laughed, and asked 'Am I talking like Duggu?'
(laughs) Have I ever talked like that in public?

Yes. Of late...
I don't remember speaking like that. I don't know... maybe it has just been brewing inside me for years. I am not the kind of guy who will get into a fight. I always see the intelligent way out. Maybe I have evolved.

Evolved enough to forget and forgive bad experiences?
I don't believe any experience is bad, actually. (Laughs) Now, I am getting conscious when I say these things, but I have to, because that's what I believe.

Today, for some other actor would've been a bad day, it started with things not working out, my hairstylist left, the clothes were not right, nothing is working.. So I think, 'Okay, what is this day trying to tell me?' That sometimes life's like that. That somedays nothing will go right. What are you going to do about that?

Am I going to be upset, throw a tantrum and leave and say, 'Enough I don't need to do this, this is not my life, why do I have to work so hard for a magazine shot? I can pick one picture from my stock and give it to them. I have done three pictures already, let's go home.' No.

You are a bit of a perfectionist, no?
I don't know if it's being a perfectionist or making the best of the day, because my entire life is one day. My entire life is sunrise to sunset. If in that day, I have failed, I am a failure.

That's too much pressure on every day!
But I have always made it work. Even if today's entire shoot would have failed, I would have not got that final shot, which excited me, I would be returning home thinking: What have I learned from this? What are my mistakes? How would I have not gone through this? So eventually the day would not be a failure because I would have learnt something.

How much you think!
That's one of the diseases of all human beings. At least I am not thinking from my ego, I am always trying to find the most peaceful way. I am the peaceful warrior. In my fights, aggression, there is peace. I have a crazy temper.

You throw a temper tantrum?
I do. You have to. If you keep it inside you, it is going to explode one day.

Tell me about your "crazy temper."
Ask my staff. Ask them what I went through the whole day. I gave them hell. But I make up for it. I make it sound like we were all in the soup and in stress together. We are a team but now we have to be happy because the day went okay. I later make it up to them because we are a team.

You have a bit of an obsessive personality, no?
Yes. I am an extremist in most cases. I hate monotony. I love bouncing off things. I have to keep doing things and make life more interesting. But then again, I have one T-shirt that I will keep wearing for three weeks, every second day.

Till Sussanne or mom will say, 'What are you doing? You can't live in that one tee.' Or I will keep wearing that one comfortable pair of jeans that really fits me well. I don't care how people perceive it.

Like my shoes or my chappals. (Pointing to feet) These are the chappals I've worn for the past six years or so. I keep buying the same chappals again and again. Wherever I go, if I am not wearing 'work' shoes, I live in these chappals.

So no adventure with footwear?
There are so many sides to me. In some cases, I get stuck on one or two small and simple things. In big areas, I am an adventurer.

To Be Continued...