Tiger Shroff, 23, considers Bruce Lee his hero after his father Jackie Shroff. Quite like his mother Ayesha, he is sensitive, diplomatic and a fitness freak. Unlike his dad, who is a vegetarian and a people's person, he enjoys his non-vegetarian food and likes to be by himself, thinking and venting his emotions alone. He may not speak, talking to his father enough, but hearing him speak about him, you know without a doubt how proud he is to be his father's son. Over an hour-long conversation ahead of his debut film Heropanti, he talks to Bombay Times about the perfection of Hrithik Roshan, the brilliance of Aamir Khan and why his father is his idol. Excerpts:

Tiger is an unusual name. Is that your passport name too? Yes, it is. Apparently I used to bite, scratch and growl at people when I was young so my parents named me 'Tiger'.
Was acting the obvious choice for you?
My becoming an actor wasn't planned. My interest always lied in sports such as football, martial arts, gymnastics and dance. I was not a demanding child and was happy to be given a football, a pump and food. I was very shy and would dance to Michael Jackson videos when nobody was watching me. Michael Jackson is so unique and I look upto him and try to imbibe as much from him and marry it to my own style. I started training in martial arts from the age of four. As a child, you don't understand much but there are people whose aura attracts you. Bruce Lee was that person for me.

He had this X factor and I knew at a young age that he was somebody like whom I wanted to be some day. I have seen all his films. I learnt gymnastics as I was always fascinated with those athletes. My dream is to play a super human by playing a super hero some day as that is the closest you can come to being a super human. Basically, what a gymnast does is extraordinary as he basically defies physics. That is the closest you can come to flying. A gymnast can easily play the role of a Spider-Man.

Ever since I was a child, all my family and family friends would always tease and say, 'When is the big day? When are you being launched?' If you keep hearing that often enough, you tend to start believing it. After passing out of school, I started getting a lot of offers. I knew I did not want to be a lawyer or a doctor as academically, I am not gifted. While I was always a good boy in school, quiet, disciplined, introverted, comfortable with myself, I would never pay attention in class. But I was very comfortable performing on stage. Post school, I got Heropanti and I quit school to train for the film.


Do you look upto any stars in Bollywood? I am a big fan of Hrithik Roshan. I respect him for his work ethic. He is an extremist and he pushes everything to the next level. What doesn't he have? He has a fantastic physique, is a superb actor, dances superbly, and his body language is immaculate. People want to make six-pack abs but in that they lose their craft. But with Hrithik sir, he has married everything so beautifully. He has his aesthetics nailed and over that he puts in his craft.

Aamir Khan sir due to the faculty of thought that goes on in his head. He is 20 years ahead of everybody. He is doing things differently. He seems to be taking risks and those risks are working for him. He has invited me to work out with him a couple of times and I felt very honoured by that.