‘I may play negative or gray characters to expand myself as an actor but at the end of the day, I always want to be the hero. It’s more challenging and exciting to play gray roles than an outright bad character as gray characters have layers you can explore and there is a sense of mystery,’ says Saif, who plays a terrorist in Kurbaan.

In Kurbaan’s Saif’s Ehsaan woos Kareena’s Avantika. They get married and go to the US of A where Kareena discovers that Saif is a terrorist mastermind who married her to keep his reputation clean. She doesn’t approve of his activities so he keeps her under house-arrest as he goes about executing a plan to blow an aircraft. Vivek and Dia play journalists and Om Puri is Saif’s boss.

Talking about his real-life girlfriend Kareena, he says, ‘She makes me feel special and we share a connection which one can only feel when love is true. I have immense respect for her as an individual. Our relationship is based on love and mutual respect and trust. I am very proud of the person and professional she is and she is proud of me too. We balance each other emotionally and that is a wonderful gift to be blessed with.’

With Kurbaan’s release around the corner, Saif is gearing up for his next production, Agent Vinod which he says is a fun and slick action film in which he will be seen in yet another new avatar.