Imran Khan is every bit the sweet boy-next door he essayed in his debut film Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na. At his sprawling home, a charming bungalow in Pali Hill, he is saying his goodbyes to perhaps his youngest fan — a friend’s two-year-old who lisps “I love you, Imu.” It would therefore not be incorrect to say that women, across age-groups, take to him easily. So far, so good. Khan now has to wait and watch if his popularity, among other things will swing the fate of his movie Luck, releasing this weekend. An adventure story, the film has a ‘bunch of people come together to try their luck’ is how Khan describes it. Directed by Soham Shah, it is among the season’s big releases.

“Soham is not the best with narration but when I read the script, I really liked it,” says the young actor. Luck is his first film this year. He matches acting skills with Shruti Haasan (a friend from school) and an ensemble cast that includes Mithun Chakraborty, Ravi Kissan, Chitrashi Rawat, Danny Denzongpa and Sanjay Dutt. Here, the actor details his adventures and experiences in showbiz.

You swam with sharks for Luck— were you not worried about turning into shark food?

There is a scene where all of us are handcuffed inside the cage deep down in the sea with real sharks all around us. To me it wasn’t scary, because right at the outset they told us that sharks are not scary. Most have never seen a human being in their lives - and when they see one, they don’t think of food, which is turtles and fish. Ever so often, people have been bitten by sharks but that’s because from underneath where the sharks are, a human being swimming can look like a seal. They eat seals and therefore the attacks, but in any case they don’t like the taste so they will spit you out. It’s another matter that most don’t survive a shark bite because of trauma and bleeding. Their intent is never to eat people. Before we did the sequence, I just went down and swum with the sharks to make myself comfortable. All of us had to undergo a deep-sea-diving course for Luck.

... contd.