I liked to write: I interviewed Dev Patel today

Dev Patel in Lion.

You can read my full Q&A here or turn to the print edition of The National on Thursday for a write-through. (Please keep in mind I only had 10 minutes to speak to him. This is de rigeur for celebrity interviews but it always gets my heart racing a bit. And don't even get me started about how much I worry that I'm going to erase the recording - you simply can't do notes when you've got so little time.) 

I can report Patel is as handsome as ever, very tall (6'2, he said during a group elevator ride at the Four Seasons DIFC in Dubai, where the interviews took place), thoughtful, fun and very polite. 

His hair is beyond. His accent is lovely. Also he offered me water, which I really appreciated, because I was incredibly thirsty by the time we got to speak and had started fearing my mouth was so dry it wouldn't open to ask my questions and I'd just have to point at them, but he wouldn't understand what was happening and half the interview would be gone by the time we sorted it out and I'd only have 5 minutes to get a feature out of it. 

Perhaps he sensed this? I'll never know. 

And did you see Lion? That movie. I had something in both my eyes.

Click here to donate to Childline India, one of three charities supported by Lion's #LionHeart campaign to help the 11 million street children and 80,000 others who go missing in India every year.