First time jitters

But I believe I managed that because I wrote my script with all the honesty and sincerity. It took a whole year of pre-production work but we slowly managed to make inroads into Hollywood.

What were the biggest challenges?
Getting into Hollywood was the toughest. It wasn’t easy to get in touch with the Hollywood stars since there’s a lot of red tape involved. I needed Akshay to play the body double to the biggest action stars and for a pin-up girl to play Akshay’s love interest so I had no other choice but to approach an ambitious cast.

It took time but we managed to make inroads via small and then big agents. We had to live in Los Angeles and do this but all was worth when they read the script and instantly agreed to act in the movie.

Then we sought permissions to shoot in Universal and Paramount Studios and the famed Kodak Theatre. We were so busy making this possible that the enormity of what we’d pulled off hit us only after we finished the film.

Is Kambakkht Ishq your dream project?
I’ve always wanted to make movies that are larger than life because I grew up watching those. Having belonged to a middle-class family,I know how expensive it can be take your family out for a movie. One saves up usually for a movie that provides them with every form of entertainment. I want to make similar movies.

Was the movie written with Akshay and Kareena in mind?
Do you think anyone else would have fitted into the roles? The movie offers both the leads equal weightage; both protagonists are strong and there’s biting chemistry between them. No one else could have managed to portray such confident characters as Akshay and Kareena did.