Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; February 3, 2014)

Vinil Mathew, 37, is an emotional filmmaker with a cheeky sense of humour. He doesn’t believe in hierarchy and is friendly with everyone he works with in his team. He left home at the age of 17 to become a filmmaker. While his parents were not supportive of his decision earlier, they are close to him today. Much like he was at 17, he retains his independent streak where he will go hammer and tongs behind something he sets out to do. He is sensitive and gets angry and upset easily. He is loyal and possessive about people he is attached to. Ahead of his first directorial film Hasee Toh Phasee, he talks to Bombay Times about the infectious Parineeti Chopra, his professional anchor Karan Johar and why the last three years were the toughest in his life. Excerpts:
 
How did you become a filmmaker?
I am a Mallu and was born and brought up in Delhi. My dad is a retired civil servant and mother, a housewife. Right from when I was in school (St Columba’s), I was impressed with Santosh Sivan’s work. My parents did not let me watch films. But whenever I could squeeze in to see a film, I did. I saw Roja when I was in Class X and that was a defining moment for me. I read an article by Mani Ratnam, where he said that it is time that educated people come forward to make new-age films. I decided I had to be a part of films. I came to Mumbai during my holidays when I was 17 and assisted Bharat Bala. I used to stay at the YMCA. I worked with him for three months and returned to Delhi to complete my Economics honours from the Delhi College of Arts and Commerce. My parents thought I would slog and come back. I started doing small production co-ordinating work and that is the time Bharat Bala was making Vande Mataram and I got to work with him. My parents were not happy with my interest in films and wanted me to pursue my education. I got into FTII and wanted to do cinematography, but was not allowed as that required a background in Physics. I did not have enough patience to do editing, so got into direction, that was my third choice. My dad was not happy with me getting into FTII and so, in the third year, I tried and managed to get a scholarship for my education. I came to Mumbai in 2000 and joined Mahesh Mathai’s Highlight Films for advertising and started assisting Prasoon Pandey. After two years, he left to form his own production company. I stuck around for one year after he left, post which I too quit as I was getting restless and did not feel I would get to direct a film there. I started my own production house Nomad Films with a friend and faced the usual struggles of not getting good work post which I joined Footcandles, where I made all my best films, be it for Reliance, Vodafone, Airtel or the TOI’s Aman Ki Asha. A lot of people respected me for the Aman Ki Asha film, that is also in the top five films in my show reel. My best friend and writer Harsh Kulkarni, who was also my senior from FTII, wrote a couple of scripts and I met Vikas Bahl from Phantom who liked it. Meanwhile, I met Karan Johar while shooting the Nestlé commercial and shared the script with him and he too liked it. Karan and Phantom decided to jointly produce it and we have Hasee Toh Phasee.
 
Talk about Prasoon Pandey?
He was my first teacher and I have been influenced a lot by him in terms of storytelling. I learnt to simplify things from him as Prasoon directs in a very easy way. He is a fun person with great people management skills and I wish I had his temperament. I am always paranoid. That is my biggest strength and weakness as I push myself a lot.
 
You were clear that you wanted Parineeti for the film?
She is infectious and you start missing her if she doesn’t come on the set. Her brightness is very intuitive. As an actor, she has the ability to process information, convert it into something personal and make it look real and create empathy for it. She is a very intuitive actor with great timing.  

Talk about Sidharth Malhotra?
Sidharth is very knowledgeable about films as he has been an assistant director. He is somebody who is reserved, but when he opens up, he opens up really well. He has great eyes and can hold silence really superbly which is his asset as an actor. There is a great amount of earnestness he brings on screen.

Who are you most attached to emotionally?
My writer, Harsh. We went through this long journey of making this film together and he is my emotional anchor. He was my senior at FTII and is so talented that it is a matter of time that he will be recognised. He understands me and bullies me and is like an elder brother. We have a relationship that has nothing to do with where we stand in life.

How much of a Mallu are you?
Mallus have a very creative streak in them. I think I have a Mallu sense of humour. The humour and emotion in my films is a lot like the Mallu films in the 80s. At home, I make sure that I get Mallu Syrian Christian food. My wife is an Iyengar from a Brahmin family from Palakkad and a vegetarian, but has learnt to make pork and meat for me. I have ancestral property in Ernakulam where I go when I can. I find a lot of Mallus to be armchair critics and too opinionated. I am far more industrious that way.
 
Talk about your journey of making Hasee Toh Phasee.
In 2003, I remember when I quit Highlight to start on my own, I did not even have the money to take a bus. I had to, many a times, skip breakfast as I could not afford it. Apart from the financial stress, I did not know where my life was headed. No one was supportive and I was not getting work. But over time, I got to make some of the most acclaimed advertising films. The last three years have also been very tough, this time, not financially but emotionally. People start judging you before they give you a film. In advertising, I was confident, but when it came to filmmaking, I was defensive as I had not done it before. Throughout the film, everybody was very unsure. My process is very different as I withhold a lot of information so they take time to adjust to my style. For me, direction is lack of direction. I am extremely planned but that’s only in my head. I was the most underconfident while making this film. Karan is my biggest anchor. He is my Santa Claus. But Karan was able to get it. He understands things which no one else does. He understands the anxiety of a filmmaker and will just relax you and reinstill confidence when you need it. There are things unsaid but he has come at the right time and propped me up and for that I will always be indebted to him. He extends a lot of warmth and is a great support. You come back lighter after meeting him. If I may say so, in terms of being emotional, we are very similar. I have known Anurag Kashyap from FTII days. And in a way he is very similar to Karan even though they represent different kinds of cinema. They both saw the film and had exactly got the same jokes and cried at the same places. They both hugged me at the end of the film. They both understand the problems of a director. Of course, Karan is extremely accessible and Anurag, difficult to reach. In these three years, I also had both my kids and had no time to be with them, but this film had to come out of my system. After this film, either I will be very confused or very settled.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 26, 2013)

Ali Zafar was trumped by Hrithik Roshan for the title of Asia’s Sexiest man last year but that may change this year with the Pakistani export’s name trending on Twitter during the ongoing voting for the title this year.

But, the popstar-turned-actor is oblivious of the hoopla and rather nonplussed by his sex symbol status.

The happily married actor who also has a young son with wife Ayesha Fazli told Mirror, “Well, it’s great that I can be sexy without taking off my shirt and romancing only my wife. But honestyly I’m still trying to figure out why people find me sexy.”

What if he made it to the top spot this year? “It’ll be flattering for my fans and it was a proud moment for my family when they found me trending on twitter. It didn’t make much of a difference to my wife since she’s always found me sexy,” he quips.

The singer-actor who had to postpone his concert tour to next year in order to complete work on his upcoming Bollywood film, Total Siyapaa, plays a Pakistani boy in love with an Indian girl a la Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza, in the film. “I know of at least two boys from India who have married Pakistani girls and vice versa. You usually make films to entertain people, but once in a while a film like this comes along in which you are the catalyst who could help break age-old perceptions that have coloured relationships between the two countries,” he says about the film, an official remake of a Spanish film, Only Human, which revolves around a Jewish girl and a Palestinian boy.

The film was earlier titled Aman Ki Asha, so why did they change it considering that the title has an instant connect with the Indo-Pak peace initiative?“Aman Ki Aasha was the working title because the male protagonist is called Aman and the girl’s name is Asha. But since the film is a romcom we thought that the title is not a good fit. So we went with Total Siyappa, confident that the word ‘siyappa’ would whip up curiosity amongst the viewers since it’s not an oftused word. FYI it means chaos and the title track will explain it,” he says.

Ali, whose last film Chashme Baddoor was a superhit in Pakistan too, is hopeful that this film too will get an official release across the border. Point out to him that many entertainment channels in Pakistan were recently fined for over-doing the “Indian” content” and he says, “You have laws in India too that restrict the amount of foreign content. Ditto for Pakistan. You can’t cross the line and get away with it.”

Next up is Kill Dil in which finally he gets to play a gun-toting action hero. “I had held a gun before but never fired one. It gives you a sense of responsibility and power. Now I wish someone would offer me the role of a bad guy next,” he grins.

His co-star in Kill Dil, Parineeti Chopra, is a singer too and hoping to sing with him. “I’m looking forward to jamming with her on the sets too. We’ve met just once but I’m told she’s a really good singer,” he says.