MUMBAI: “My experience playing a Nawab in Umrao Jaan was eventful and making this film was surreal,” said Abhishek Bachchan in his first ever media appearance to promote his forthcoming film Umrao Jaan.

When asked as to why surreal, he says, “In J.P Dutta’s film one is so used to responding to terms like saavdhan, go left, go right, bataaliyan, fire etc. But now I had to smell roses, go behind bushes, romance ladies, sit and watch them dance. I was surrounded by women all the time, even all our assistant directors were women.”

So did he learn anything new from so many women? “I have a new found respect for ladies. I realize why my co-actresses take so long to dress up before shooting. It was tough for me to handle nine inches of turban on my head. I wonder how ladies handle nine yards of cloth around them.”

Above and beyond handling turbans and shawls how tough was it to put on the character of a Nawab? “We shot Umrao Jaan in Lucknow and Jaipur because J.P saab likes to shoot his films in real locations so that actors can live in that era and it becomes easy for them to slip into their character. We shot in palaces where kings have lived and used props that belonged to that era. So by watching such things around, it was not tough to slip into the character.”

He further adds, “Before we started shooting each day, J.P. saab played the songs of the film. For the first time ever he used music as a medium to transport actors and the crew into the mood of the film.”