And personally, I'm happy to see that the multiplex audience has also multiplied and hopefully, by itself, it's a genuine market to cater to - a large, genuine market that can produce numbers like this, numbers almost at par with movies that are running across the single screens as well. What I'd like to interpret the numbers done by a movie like Cocktail is the coming of age of the Indian middle class and its sensibilities.

Reports of the demise of the multiplex-only brand of cinema were somewhat premature, then? Yes, that's one way to put it, yeah (laughs). Apparently, the last non-single-screen-centred release to do decently comparable numbers was Rockstar.

Rockstar wasn't a multiplex only kind of movie. I think Rockstar was intended to be an all-India thing.

I don't really know, but I don't think they were aiming at a multiplex-only audience like Cocktail. I'd compare it to romantic comedy multiplex releases, and, like we're hearing, it's done the best any movie of that genre has done so far.

Also, it's not really fair to compare numbers because the business is growing, the number of screens have been growing each year, and so numbers will keep on moving, records will keep on being reset each year. You're now in your forties.

The other stars who pull off this kind of movies would be, for instance, Imran or Ranbir. Not quite your age bracket.

It matters how fit you are. It matters how you look, not how old you are.

Frankly, when I take care of myself, I look fit. But when there are phases when I didn't get the chance to work out or to have enough sleep, it shows, you look a little tired on screen - and it happens faster now, than it used to some years back.

This very specific single hero / multiplex niche that seems to work for you better than other genres - has it been a conscious call to take these up? Is there a pattern here? Hum Tum and Salaam Namaste , I think, would be the ones to take as a reference here. When I did Hum Tum, Aditya Chopra said he was looking at 'a new kind of multiplex hero' - that's what we called it then - which was niche.

But now it's almost mainstream. What was the 'new kind'? He said that Hum Tum would be a new kind of film because there is no drama between the mother and the father and the family - the conflict is just between the protagonists.

I want to make this new kind of modern film, he told me, and I want you to be that new kind of hero. So Hum Tum, Dil Chahta Hai, Salaam Namaste - a part of my personality has always been that, I guess.

And in some ways, Aditya began that in a conscious manner with me in Hum Tum . But being the first isn't always a big thing, or acknowledged.

With all due respect, Baba Sehgal was the first to introduce rap in India, but he doesn't get the credit he deserves. Similarly, this multiplex-kind-of-character, which I could essay and give a face to, was niche 10 years ago, but is fast becoming mainstream today.

Which actors today could most comfortably portray that sort of multiplex character? Today? I'm not sure, but I'd guess Imran. And Ranbir, perhaps.

Ranbir plays many different roles, he impresses as a genuine entertainer and actor - there's something that gives me the aura of an actor to be taken very seriously. And who else? Shahid? I wouldn't know.

You don't have too wide a friends' circle in the industry. After a long period without a hit, when a movie works, do you get the expected deluge of SMSes? Umm.

..

I used to think that not everybody has my number. But the most number of SMSes I ever received was when Abba passed away.

Then I realised that people could contact me if they wanted to. And I think about half of those people have now messaged me after Cocktail, which is a phenomenal amount, much more than anyone has ever messaged me before for anything about movies.

Kareena's doing or not doing movies on account of her impending marriage is a matter of much conjecture. That marriage, however, has no impact whatsoever on your movies, current or upcoming; she can't apparently do a love story while you're wooing two girls on screen at the same time! The philosophy of it aside, doesn't this come up over a dinner table sometimes? Nobody's even registering the fact that you're also getting married when it comes to roles and suitability.

I absolutely and completely agree. Yes, we have talked about it a couple of times.

Kareena just expresses that she's conscious about this being a reality. And I try and assure her that it won't impact her career.

But she's fairly realistic that in some ways it might and it will. But I still feel that she should, you know, not do films that she doesn't want to (laughs)! I hope that times haven't changed that much that there's an impact on her career.

It'll be very sad if there is. Would a Cocktail have had the same connect if Deepika had been a married star? Would it have worked? I don't know.

In my mind, it would. My mother did so many leading roles after she had married.

People say things have changed. I don't know what's changed.

Maybe heroes don't want to work with married women. Maybe they feel it's not as interesting or something - I don't know.

To me, it wouldn't make a difference at all. People like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan worked with Juhi Chawla late into her career and the films were a hit.

Or Kajol. So it's sometimes up to the hero - do you mind working with a lady who is not going to give you too much attention beyond a point, and whose priorities lie at home? If that doesn't matter to the hero - you know, maybe there are heroes who say, nahi yaar, let's work with young, beautiful, single heroines? That certain prehistoric thought could be in certain actors' minds and that limits options for married ladies - it's probably not the audience.

I certainly would be happy to work with any married lady. What does Cocktail's clicking mean to you? Most of all, it means I can now get going with the renovations of Pataudi rather than worrying about how it'll do! That's what I'm most excited about (less)