Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan put his speeding skills to test here as he took a blazing red Ferrari for a spin around a local driving centre.

The 41-year-old actor was in town Saturday to promote his Rs 50 crore venture, 'Agent Vinod', which releases on March 22 in the UAE.

"Agent Vinod is a spy-action film and there are many car-chases so I asked my director if we could have a flashy car in that too," Saif told Gulf News adding that he took several lessons to master the art of making car-chase sequences look authentic on-screen.

"Apart from learning how to drive cars and bikes fast, I learnt how to jump off high buildings too," he said. He travelled to Vietnam to learn martial arts in preparation for his stunt-filled role in the film, also starring girlfriend Kareena Kapoor.

"It's not Mr And Mrs Smith and it's not a cheesy Bond rip-off. It is about a RAW agent who has his own personality. Yes, it has influences from various films it's a little bit Bond, little bit Jason Bourne and a little bit 24 and Tin Tin.

But it is also original," said Saif. He also said he would never do a role on the lines of what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie did in spy-drama 'Mr & Mrs Smith'. "It just doesn't make sense for Kareena and I to do such a role in India.

I think she has done a wonderful job with the action. She said she doesn't like doing action but she is very good at it," he told the newspaper. Agent Vinod, which is co-produced by Saif and Dinesh Vijan, is expected to release in 2,500 screens in India and over 700 screens overseas.