Vikramjit Singh, 35, is a man who trusts easily is all heart and visibly affectionate. He is a rebel, has, high self-respect and has a high aptitude to take risk. He is easily distracted and may be careless when it comes to financial contracts and planning for his future, but takes himself as an artist quite seriously. He fears mediocrity and may have dreamt of making movies all his life, but hopes to write a novel at the end of his life. Ahead of his upcoming romantic thriller Roy, he talks to Bombay Times about his childhood friend Ranbir Kapoor, his love for his father and what makes Adi Chopra his inspiration. Excerpts:

Let's talk about your background?
My father Gurdeep Singh (nicknamed Gawa in the film industry) came from a humble background in Delhi, but he was from IIT Delhi and worked for Berger Paints till Yash Chopra got him to Mumbai to handle his business and be his executive producer. He became one of the most powerful men at Yash Raj and Yash Chopra's right hand man. Pamela Chopra is my real bua. Dad worked with Yash Chopra for 14 years, right upto Lamhe in 1991, after which they parted ways. It took him several years to put his film together after struggling for it, but the films he made did not do well. I was a part of the movie business since I was a child and always wanted to make movies, but dad was adamant, as any father would be, that I needed to first finish my studies. I studied in Bombay Scottish and was good, both in sports and studies, and was amongst the two international students chosen by Wharton. I am really good at Mathematics and can add and multiply like nobody's business. In US, I had bagged one of the two most toughest and highest paying investor banking jobs that year and yet, I chucked it all to come back to make movies. My dad was heart-broken. I joined Farhan Akhtar as an AD on Lakshya, but quit even that in just three months as I found it very mechanical. I started my own talent agency with a friend of mine to pay my bills, but soon sold my stake in that too to Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for a film called Raaste, but had to give it up as Abhishek's dates were given to another film. I again wanted to make a film with Ranbir Kapoor in 2008 that didn't work out. I finally wrote Roy in 2010 and got Ranbir and Arjun Rampal's consent to be a part of it.

Ranbir said that he has shared his professional and personal life with you. Talk about your relationship?
Our families knew each other very well due to the Yash Chopra connection. Rishi Kapoor and dad were always friends, so I spent a lot of time with Ranbir. We went to the same school and would often spend our weekends playing together. Even though he was three years younger to me, we were in New York at the same time. I always wanted to make movies. I would write stories and narrate it to him.

What is Ranbir like?
He is a very good human being and will not harm a thing. He is quiet, someone who internalises all his processes, not a guy to come and announce to the world how he is feeling, whether he is happy or sad. He cares deeply, says very little, backs his feelings with action more than words. A man of huge integrity, a man not fearful of making hard calls. He is a brave kid. Since his childhood, he was a kid who always wanted to win. I think acting has given him a mask that he can hide behind. Despite who he has become today, no one really knows who he is. And it's beautiful as all that angst and energy in him is hidden behind that mask and at least he knows a way of addressing the world and coming face to face with it. Deep down, he is a very different man. He takes his legacy very seriously. He is this boy of Bollywood, the grandson of Raj Kapoor, son of Rishi Kapoor. He may not agree to the pressure, but it's a pressure he lives with and has learnt to mask. In Saawariya, he relied less on instinct and more on preparation. He knew that the world would be there to grab him, pull him down if they have to, so he came polished. Sanjay Leela Bhansali moulded him very well for his first movie and said, 'Just go and express yourself.' And that's what he did. Today, he has no sense of fear inside of himself.

He is never brash or arrogant, but can that fear really run away from his life? No it can't, but he has found his way of blocking it and that is the persona and the star that he has become that has given him a definition that he desperately needed. What I don't like about him is that sometimes, he says too little. He never blows his own trumpet. And that kind of stability and humility is a function of the life he has led. He finds himself very secure in that fortress that he has built around himself and that's the only change over time in him. I have seen the man without the fortress. Inside, he is the same human being with a beautiful heart, just beautifully masked. He works very hard and loves people who work hard. He emulates them and wants to succeed.

It has taken you 12 years to make your first film. How tough was that?
The period from 2010 to 2012 was my worst. I didn't really know whether my film would start. I am a positive guy, but given that my professional life was in such a jumble, you can't expect my life to be easy last 12 years. On an average of three months a year, I would get myself alone into a room, write and read, clutter my brain with more knowledge, hardly saw my parents, even though I was living in their house, but I would find reasons to be out all the time. If I had no work for the day, I would take my car and go, move around in Mumbai city. And if dad called asking where I was, I would say, 'Dad, I am in a meeting.' I have a car in which over four years I did one lakh kilometres, driving around without a purpose. Ranbir and I would meet in the car and drive around, but I would hide even from him as much as I could.

Who do you love the most in the world?
My dad. I felt that his career at some point was cut short unceremoniously to the extent that he could never get the momentum back again. We are family with the Chopras and have a very cordial relationship even today. My dad's a very emotional being and for him, it's his sister over the entire universe. It bothered me a lot in my initial days when I was starting my career, but today it doesn't matter as I am happy with the experience and everything else that went down with it. I am very close to Adi Chopra. I would tag along with him to watch a film every Friday and he is my inspiration. We would have arguments all the time, but then there was one movie we both agreed was the best movie of our life and that was Maine Pyar Kiya. He loves the movies and is born to make them. He is a very passionate man, loves his food and loved his father immensely. He has a massive problem of stammering, so he has found his mask to stay inside a room. My father is a good, honest man who has always been very positive and happy. Even when he shared a few details with me about his separation with Yash Chopra, he said one thing and that is that the women in the family will not know this. It is something that the men will deal with. My dad is a really proud man, and he has always told me, 'Head high always. If you have not done anything wrong, there is no need to put your head down.' I have not seen a man who is so proud of his son as he is. I had a very successful childhood, I was the school head captain, got into Wharton and made him proud, then when I said I want to come back, he was heart-broken. I then got a movie and he was proud again, then I lost the movie and the fears took over again. I got another movie, he thought my son is a fighter, I am proud of him, but I lost it again, and he again felt bad. And now, it is finally time for Roy to release and he is ecstatic. His last message to me a few days back said, 'Fight, my son. You deserve all the success, I am proud of you.' If I do succeed, it will be his redemption.