‘I flunked the tennis quiz SRK gave me’

Lara Dutta shares her memories of icy Berlin on the sets of Don 2. The amiable actor attributes the buzz over ‘icy’ vibes between Chopra and Dutta to the over-active imagination of some journalist.

Lara Dutta is back in town after a month-and-a-half of shooting for Don 2 in Berlin. Quiz her on her stay in Germany and she shivers at the memory: “It would get dark by 4.30 pm and it was freezing. But hopefully, I’ll sizzle on screen.”

HT Image

Dutta is as excited about playing an “ultra sophisticated mystery miss” in the Farhan Akhtar-directed sequel as she is about Shah Rukh Khan’s spectacular stunts in the thriller. “He’ll give you some ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ moments; I hope I too will,” she says. “Mahesh (fiancé Mahesh Bhupathi) is really kicked about the film, as much for Shah Rukh as for me. He’s a huge SRK fan!”

So, did he and the Bollywood Badshah talk tennis during his flying visit to Berlin? “They chatted, Shah Rukh is pretty knowledgeable about tennis,” she says, adding with a laugh, “Once, when we were in his van, he gave me an impromptu tennis quiz that I flunked.”

Lara Dutta

But of late, ever since the FIFA World Cup in South Africa earlier this year, Khan, she points out, is more into football. After pack-up everyday, he gets together with the boys — Farhan, Ritesh (co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani), Bamzee (Boman Irani) and Kunal (Kapoor) — among others, to play ball.



"They were all hooked on this game called FIFA 2010 and would play for hours. Priyanka (Chopra) and I were reduced to being the cheerleaders," Lara chuckles. There’s been plenty of speculation over the last few weeks about the ‘icy’ vibes between Chopra and Dutta in ‘icy’ Berlin. The amiable actor attributes the buzz to the over-active imagination of some journalist.

Dutta insists that Chopra is the one of the most talented actors in the industry today and is warmed by her excitement over Dutta’s engagement. She smiles, “Priyanka was making my plans for me.”