Among the Bollywood royalty, Saif Ali Khan holds a special place. This is mainly thanks to the rare combination of his Nawabi lineage and his love interest, Kareena Kapoor — the industry’s reigning queen. Now, with talks of their marriage coinciding with the release of Aarakshan, his first film in two years, the actor can’t escape the media glare.

In conversation with Harneet Singh, the actor shows no reservations as he talks about his dreams, his ambitious home production, Agent Vinod, being a zombie expert and his Zen-like approach to work. Why the almost two-year gap between Kurbaan and Aarakshan? I got busy with my production, Agent Vinod, as well as setting up my production house, Illuminati Films. In hindsight, it didn’t pan out that bad. The gap gave me the time to reboot myself. Now, I’m enjoying training in the gym and also I’m clearer about the direction I want my career to take.

Prakash Jha and you occupy diverse worlds, how did Aarakshan happen? It happened over a conversation where I pointed out that we will make for a very unexpected combination if we ever work together. The next day, he offered me the film. I took it up as a good opportunity to do a film based on India and about Indians.

And handling the moustache, did that come easy? Well, let me first tell you that it’s a genuine one. It took getting used to, but I tend to think that a moustache can look very sophisticated if you carry it well. It also has an advantage that you can suck the soup out of it hours after you’ve eaten (laughs).