He’s played an alcoholic in two of his biggest hits, Aashiqui 2 and Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani but the only excess Aditya Roy Kapoor can be found guilty of in real life is that he’s just too nice. In an exclusive phone conversation with Instep, one of Bollywood’s hottest young stars took out the time to talk about his upcoming movie Daawat-e-Ishq, sibling rivalry and clashing at the box-office with Pakistan’s best-looking export to India.

We were expecting at least a hint of the intense, angst -ridden Rahul from Aashiqui 2 or a flash of the irreverent Avi from Yeh Jawani… but what we got was an unassuming regular guy, polite to a fault and fun to talk to.

Aditya started off his career as a VJ on the popular Channel V, where his quirky sense of humour earned him a dedicated following. His first two acting stints were duds – London Dreams and Action Replay represented the kind of banal cinema that fades from collective memory sooner than you can say ‘flop’. It was the phenomenal and unprecedented success of Aashiqui 2, which saw Aditya playing an alcoholic rock star while romancing the doe-eyed Shraddha Kapoor on screen that cemented his status as a real filmi hero.

Post Aashiqui 2, the actor began to be placed in the same league as his more successful contemporaries Ranvir Singh and Arjun Kapoor, in no small measure due to his ability to make female fans go weak in the knees. Playing a doomed lover onscreen tends to have that effect – remember what Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak did for Aamir Khan all those years ago?

"I never imagined the film would touch people the way it did or that it would resonate with the younger generation so much. The kind of business it did and the way it reached around the world and got reactions from everywhere was totally unprecedented and humbling. It changed my life completely," says Aditya.

While the success of the film means that he can no longer grab a cup of coffee in Mumbai without getting mobbed, it has had surprisingly little effect on the 28-year-old’s personality. Aditya credits his Punjabi family for keeping him grounded and not letting stardom get to his head. "I have two older brothers, who are much bigger than me in age and size. I’ve grown up being terrorized and terrified of them! They’re both extremely brilliant and talented; having them around keeps my head fixed firmly on my shoulders."

As his second solo film gears up for release this Friday, Aditya must be anxious about Daawat-e-Ishq’s box-office prospects. The hits that have marked his career so far had a lot else going for them – Yeh Jeewani… had the Ranbir-Deepika power couple and Aashiqui 2 its superhit music. Daawat-e-Ishq will be definitive proof whether Aditya has the star power to carry a film on his shoulders, broad and manly as they may be. The actor isn’t worried and feels that his turn as Tariq the incorrigible chef from Lucknow is unique to Bollywood.

"I don’t think a movie like this has been done before. Despite the Indian obsession with food, there really hasn’t been a movie that’s been based on food. Daawat-e-Ishq is quirky and it’s flamboyant and at the heart of it is a charming love story. The director Habib Faisal has brought together two distinct cities and cultures – Lucknow and Hyderabad – and highlighted the idiosyncrasies of both in a very interesting manner. The sets are great and it’s going to be a visual and gastronomical treat."

Aditya is hopeful that the movie will do well not just in India but across the sub-continent as it touches on a social ill that plagues the entire region – the issue of dowry. "We’ve given a very important social message in the movie in a fun way without being preachy about it. I am sure audiences in Pakistan as well as in India will appreciate the point of view."

Question him about his real-life love for food and Aditya practically gushes. "I grew up in a household that loved food. My parents are both great cooks. I was always competing with my elder brothers for my share of the goodies on the dinner table, hence I learnt to eat very fast and a lot!"

While the self-confessed foodie can’t cook to save his life – "eggs, toast and a particular flair for Maggie noodles" is how he describes his repertoire in the kitchen, he says that watching his parents cook all his life ensured he was comfortable wielding a knife as the Lucknawi chef. "I did take cutting and chopping lessons from Dad, but at the end of the day acting is about faking it and making it look believable."

The real struggle on the sets of Daawat-e-Ishq, according to Aditya, was for its two leading actors to control their appetites. "Both Parineeti and I are ridiculous foodies and that proved to be quite dangerous as delicacies were practically flying around the set. The dishes in the scenes came from some of the best restaurants in Lucknow and you can’t possibly imagine how the sight and smell of it would drive us crazy. We were constantly eating and needless to say, our continuity went for a toss during filming. Our weights increased progressively during the shooting schedule!"

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the countless rumours of the sizzling chemistry between Aashiqui 2′s lead pair blossoming into a real-life romance and the couple’s steadfast denial of it. Aditya adeptly fields a question about the alleged affair by proclaiming that he’s friendly with all his co-stars (Yawn! Does anyone else feel that this stance is getting tedious and repetitive?) "Both Shraddha and Parineeti are really fun to work with and I’m lucky that I got along so well with them. The one thing they have in common is a great sense of humour. Filmmaking can be boring business; sometimes you have to wait around for three hours for a light to be moved to the right angle. It’s a blessing to be around other actors that you get along with."

Speaking of other actors, how does he feel about the competition he’ll be receiving from this side of the border come September 19 when Daawat-e-Ishq goes head-to-head with Pakistani heartthrob Fawad Khan’s debut, Khoobsurat? "I feel great! The more the merrier I say. I haven’t met any of the actors from Pakistan personally but from what I’ve heard, they are doing very well. I think it’s an honour for me to be part of an industry like Bollywood that attracts and welcomes people from all over the world."

By now, Aditya’s publicist in having a minor seizure because the conversation’s gone well beyond the scheduled time; she’s tried to interrupt him twice but he’s been too polite to cut us off mid-conversation. We finally decide to make things easier by wrapping it up.

"Please watch the movie and tell everyone in Pakistan to watch it," he says as he bids us farewell, warming us up and making us wonder if it’s normal for a star to be so sweet.