Our entire house is being renovated for my son: Zayed Khan

Feb 22, 2008 Subhash K. Jha

Mumbai, Feb 23 (IANS) First time father Zayed Khan is over the moon and says he is renovating the house in his son's honour.

"Our entire house is being re-done for him. It's been a long time since any renovation was done in the house. But we never had any incentive. He came home on Jan 23. We had a welcome-home ceremony done for him," Zayed told IANS.

Zayed's wife Malaika gave birth to Zidaan Jan 20. And his sister Susanne Roshan is preparing for motherhood a second time.

"I've named my son Zidaan, it means son. His naming was put to vote and we all opted for Zidaan. It feels very strange and yet very comforting to have someone usurp me as the baby of the family. I enjoyed it while it lasted. But now I want to pass the baton on.

"There're many perks to being the baby of the family. But there're an equal number of disincentives. I was tired of being the family's centre of attraction. I was a very loved child. All my family, parents, aunts, sisters pampered me. I'm a lucky guy. I can't complain."

Grandfather Sanjay Khan calls Zidaan his third copy.

"The three most defining moments in a guy's life are, when his father calls him his son, when the woman he loves call him her husband and when his child calls him father. I've gone through all these defining moments. My parents are ecstatic. Words cannot express their happiness. My dad says, 'My third copy is out'."

Moving reluctantly to work Zayed describes his stay in Turkey for "Mission Istanbul" as the "fantastic schedule".

"It's all about working with like-minded people. Yes, I did some audacious action including jumping down a high-rise. There was no choice. My character required me to get seriously audacious. And I did. We took a lot of precautions, but I told my director Apoorva Lakhia that we have to give the audience their money's worth.

"As a kid, I remember how thrilled I used to be watching my father and Mr. Amitabh Bachchan do all those daredevil stunts. Today's audience has seen so much more of international cinema. We have to give them international-level action. If you see Chinese cinema, it takes action to another level"

Zayed admits he was terrified doing the heart-in-the-mouth stunts.

"Anything that happens for the first time, be it fatherhood or stunts, scares you. I asked our action guys to show me exactly what they wanted. I really practised hard before taking the plunge. Apoorva's film believes in very high-octane stunts. He is a hyper guy. Very passionate and spirited."

The actor says he had to keep the risky action away from his parents.

"I hid the truth from my family as much as possible. Being the son and husband and father-to-be, I had to spare them the anxiety."

Talking about his verbal spats with Lakhia on the sets, he said: "By the end of the day we either didn't talk to each other, or had canned terrific shots, or both."