'Siya Ke Ram' is the story of Sita and Ram as two equally strong individuals, and I feel 'Ramayan' is as much as Sita's journey as it is Ram's.
I played Lord Ram. It was a difficult character because I was just 21 years old and I played Ram at such a young age.
The game shapes you. I played for 20 years at all levels, apart from the Premier League. I had a disaster at Bristol City, where in two years I learnt more about myself, the industry, fans, how you get treated, than I ever learnt in my career.
I want my roles to be different which is why Ram in 'Ramayan,' Maan in 'Geet' and now Yash in 'Punar Vivaah' are distinct from each other.
But I certainly made mistakes, for which I regret, I think most human beings in their lifetime make mistakes, mine ended up in two years prison - two very remarkable years from which I learnt a lot.
Football, no one wants to ram into people. It's not human nature. You have to have a lot of incentive to ram into somebody to benefit others.
I played until 37-years-old and my last three or four years I learnt the most.
The Bharat Ram family was into philanthropy a way earlier. They build institutes such as Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College, and Shri Ram Schools. They are very inspiring.
Playing Lord Ram is a once in a lifetime opportunity and, thankfully, people were convinced with my interpretation of the divine character all those years ago.
I spent two years working on building sites, working on the railways as a guard and in a racing stable, exercising racehorses. I learnt to build relationships. The experience of not being stuck in some middle-class bubble taught me things that being at university hadn't.
No, the Ram Mandir issue is not a political one. It is a national and cultural issue. We would like to see a grand Ram temple come up at the place of the birth of Lord Ram in Ayodhya.
Ram Gopal Varma had signed me for 'Satya' and two days before the shoot, I was dropped out of the film. He didn't even have the decency to call me or my manager and inform me about the reality. I learnt from the press that he had begun shooting without me.
Deion Sanders played two sports, and Bo Jackson played two sports. I'm not athletic enough to do two sports, but I think I'm good enough to do two professions and do them pretty well at a high level.
The power of the Latin classic is in character , that of the Greek is in beauty . Now character is capable of being taught, learnt, and assimilated: beauty hardly.
I have played some wonderful leading roles on stage and had the whole 'China Beach' years where I really played a leading man on that. That was a fun change for a character actor. But I'm perfectly happy going back to building my gallery of memorable character roles.
I have played against (Michel) Platini, (Diego) Maradona, (Johan) Cruyff and played with George Best — a lot of big names, but none of them has been able to do what Messi does. Two years ago I said that the best player I played against was Maradona and the best player I have played with was Bestie. But I can now say I have never seen a player as good as Messi. He’s in a league of his own.