Uday Chopra, Yash Chopra's younger son, sees Padam Kumar's Supari as a new beginning in his career. "We started Supari almost three years ago. So I kinda grew into it. It is a role that allows me to be diametrically different from my earlier films Mohabbatein and Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, and is more enjoyable. So far, people have seen me play myself. Now, I get to play a character diameterically different from me."

For Uday, playing a working class student with unreasonable ambitions was not difficult. "Sure, I come from a different background. But it didn't take me long to get into my character's head. I could understand how easily he is tempted into taking shortcuts to get things that his more affluent friends own. In a city like Mumbai, a guy who travels by train mingles with a friend who travels in a Ferrari. What does the guy on the train do?"

So how did Uday empathise with the character? "Isn't that what acting is all about? I put myself in my character's place to see what it would be like to not have what I do have. I saw Aryan [the character he plays] as somebody who is torn between his ambitions and humanity."

Supari is Uday's first film outside his own production house, Yash Raj Films. He says the move away from home ground was smooth: "It was not as if I were pampered on my father's sets. Of course, the comfort level on my dad's sets is high since I have served not only as an actor but also assistant director. But once I began working with Padam Kumar's unit, the comfort level was just as high. Besides, I got to learn so much as an actor thanks to the director's scant knowledge of Hindi."

Explains Uday, "See, Padam Kumar thinks and talks in Tamil and English. So for him, the words in Supari were less important than how they were spoken. This helped me learn how to act in pauses rather than words. Today, after doing so many wordless scenes in Supari, I feel it is so much tougher and far more fulfilling to act without words."

To prepare for the role wasn't that difficult, he says. "I had a bound script in my hands for a long time. Padam Kumar and I discussed my character at length. He let me interpret the character my own way rather than refer to other actors who have played outcasts. This process made my character all the more interesting."

Uday makes it a point to emphasise that Supari is not like Satya, Kaante or any other gangster epic. "It is not about goondas and sociopaths," he says, adding, "It is about decent, middle class boys getting swept into a world of violence. Though it is a violent film, we haven't focused on blood and gore. What is violent about Supari is the thought that the guy who is sitting next to you in college could be already sucked into a world of crime."

He admits he was apprehensive about doing justice to his dark character. "At one point when my character undergoes a major emotional upheaval, I wondered whether I would be able to carry it off. I would sit in a corner and feel awful for my character. After being an extension of myself on screen, I had to reinvent myself completely."

The process required Uday to buy a pair of boots and 'live' in them. "Padam thought Aryan had to walk like a man. The boots helped. Those are the only shoes I wore throughout Supari. My entire get-up -- torn vests and all -- helped make me feel rough, unwashed, unkempt. We did quite a few rehearsals where we got to know one another well."

He gazes into the distance and says, "In different portions of the film, I felt like a different person. Since Nandita Das comes from a different school of acting, I had to behave in a particular manner. Then with the boys -- Rahul Dev, Purab Kohli and Akaash Saigal -- it was another ball game. My costar Nauheed was completely new, so I felt like a veteran with her."

Uday is also excited about his role in Tigmanshu Dhulia's Charas. "That's the only other film I have. While Supari is grim and dark, Charas is Tigmanshu's own Sholay. It's a very commercial film given a peculiar spin. Tigmanshu is from Allahabad. I love his command over the Hindi language."

In Charas, Uday and Jimmy Shergil partner as cops. "While Supari sucked me in, Charas is a feel-good experience. We are the good guys. Our characters are very stylishly done with stubble, leather jacket and all. Right now, I am into a different kind of cinema. But who knows, I could go back to fluff stuff again. Right now, the different films are making all the difference."