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Your acting career began with the massively successful film back in 1993. How did you get this role and how did that shape your career?

A. It was just by chance. I guess I was just destined to be an actor. I was 15, waiting for my SSC result, and I’d just got my portfolio done. Somebody happened to see it and I got a call from an agency. The rest is history.

Even before Baazigar had released, Ratan Jain, the producer of the film, signed me for a three-film deal. The first was Baazigar, the second was Main Khiladi Tu Anari [1994] and the third was Dhadkan [2000]— all three turned out to be the biggest hits of my career. Q. How do you look back on your time in Bollywood? You’ve now been around for more than two decades. A. I look back with a lot of gratitude and I can’t believe I’ve nearly had a lifespan of 25 years in the film industry. That’s a long time and I just think that change is the only constant there. Back in the day, it [the industry] used to work only on personal relationships and was quite disorganised. But there was method to the madness. Over the years things have changed, with more corporate bodies coming in, and it has become far more organised. Q. It has been quite a long time since you were last seen on the big screen. Do you miss that part of your