Bollywood's most loved filmmaker Zoya Akhtar looks back during the lockdown
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; May 15, 2020)

Consider writer-director Reema Kagti (Gold, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd) as an Australian male Ricardo Fernandes, looking for his lost brother in Mumbai, while filmmaker Zoya Akhtar is the local don Mastana's hot moll. That's really how Zoya first met Reema, during the audition for Kaizad Gustad's Bombay Boys (1998).

Reema, as the casting assistant, was standing in for Rahul Bose. Zoya, opposite her, was actually testing for the film's female lead role—mainly to humour Gustad, because he was keen she read for the part, that finally went to Tara Deshpande. Zoya was clear she wanted to AD on the movie.

AD, meaning assistant director—both a proper noun and an active verb on a film set. It's been over two decades since Bombay Boys, where Reema and Zoya were second ADs. Their partnership, as writers over the past decade though, counts amongst its achievements, Gully Boy (2019), the Amazon series Made In Heaven (2019), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), Talaash (2012), and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011).

Bollywood wise, they could well be—albeit slightly Bonzai—versions of the '70s super-hit, Salim-Javed (Zanjeer, Deewar, Don, Sholay, Mr India)—the most successful writing pair ever, comprising Salim Khan and Zoya's father, Javed Akhtar.

I say this, while Zoya is talking to us from where Salim-Javed used to work out of—the study in her Bandra family home—that she now uses as her bedroom: "I'm just absorbing them," she smiles. She also drops a hint at working on a talkathon/documentary project of sorts to do with Salim-Javed themselves, as part of her newly launched production company.

But it's too early to talk about, she insists. Much is naturally made of Zoya as poet-lyricist Javed's daughter, eighth generation writer from the Akhtar family. Her love for films, as she points out, flows first from her mother's fine collection of world to latest cinema, projected on the screen at home, growing up.

Also the fact is that it's her mom, Honey Irani, who's the Bollywood insider in the family, having literally grown up in showbiz (Javed had moved from Bhopal).

Wikipedia rather exaggeratedly lists her as the child-star of 72 films!

Honey would've done minimum 20-30 movies as the much loved kid-face of the big screen—graduating much later to screenwriting, with popular titles like Yash Chopra's Lamhe (1991), Aaina (19993), Darr (1993), Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000), Koi… Mil Gaya (2003), Krissh 3 (2013).

Zoya reminisces, "Now, everybody has a camera to record their children. But people in my generation did not have footage of when their parents were three years old. I was one of the few kids, who had my mother from the time she was two, to when she was 16! I've seen my mother animated [on the screen], with different expressions, speech, seen her change, and grow. It's really interesting even now, to see her like that. She was darn cute, man! She, and my aunt Daisy [Irani]!"

She rues in jest, "Everybody in my family has a National Award— my mother, father, brother [Farhan Akhtar], step-mother [Shabana Azmi], cousin [Farah Khan], everybody. Except me!" Which film did her mom get a National Award as the kid-lead? "I don't know, if it was for Pyaar Ki Pyaas or Taare Zameen Par, one of the two." There was a yesteryear film called Taare Zameen Par? "Zameen Ke Tare! Both my mom, and my aunt."

The mom's acting gene, Zoya contends, went to her younger sibling, Farhan: "He is a bona-fide performer—he always had that. I hate being on stage, or before the camera. My first thing to do with the arts was to write—watching both my parents work at home, discussing scripts… That was one of the first things [in my head]. Directing came later."

Held over video-call for the first time, Zoya is also the first filmmaker to feature on our unscripted conversation series, Sit With Hitlist—so far limited to Hindi cinema's lead actors. Reason for that of course is that she's arguably Bollywood's most loved filmmaker, and therefore a star in her own right.

That apart, little is known about her life up until her rather belated directorial debut at 36-plus, with Luck By Chance (2009), although she'd been working as a film professional for around 18 years before that. Very little worth knowing, Zoya casually reckons, jogging back to age 19, when she started interning for a copy-writer's job at a creative agency—simultaneously reading sociology at Bombay's St. Xavier's College.

"I remember watching Salaam Bombay (1988), being madly in love, and going: I want to direct. And I don't know what I'm going to make. Because Hindi films were not my scene then. Out of the blue, when I was about 21, I got a job with Mira Nair on [the sets of] Kamasutra (1996)." You can find her in a cameo appearance as one of the Kamasutra girls, "an extra part," as she puts it, because ADs are frequently expected to fill-in or add to the human backdrop on shoots.

Of all her past associates, Mira as director appears to have left a strong impression on Zoya: "Mira is just special, you can see that. When she is talking to you, you are the only person in the world. She makes people feel special. She knows everybody on a crew by name. I love that about her. And I love her aesthetics."

Post Kamasutra, Zoya recalls, "I started working mainly on American projects that came to India. Went to NYU [New York University] for a diploma [in filmmaking]. Stayed back in New York. Got a job, thanks to Ismail Merchant, in a small, cool, indie film called Side Streets, directed by Tony Gerber."

She returned to Bombay as a freelance, professional AD, of which there were only four in all of Bollywood, who did a lot of foreign films and Indian work: "Reema [Kagti], [director] Apurva Lakhia, and me. Then Kiran Rao came in." Zoya's credits during this phase include Mahesh Mathai's Bhopal Express (1999) and Dev Benegal's Split Wide Open (1999). She chose to specialise in the casting department, because there, "you get to direct actors, with a script," and that's what she ever wanted to learn/master anyway.

She was the casting director on Farhan's first film Dil Chahta Hai (DCH, 2001), and thereafter Armaan (2003), her mother Honey's directorial debut. Okay did she personally pick/cast that balloon-lover boyfriend in Dil Chahta Hai? "Oh that's actually Hassan, a childhood friend of Farhan. But we handpicked everyone, so to speak. There are very interesting cameos. Kiran Rao is one of the girlfriends in Goa. She'd come to do all the extras' casting for the film's Goa leg!"

Between freelance AD-ing, Zoya had been ideating all along for her debut feature. It's mildly ironic that while so cued into casting, she was unable to kick off her first film for want of a lead actor, for almost a decade that she'd been ready to direct. And the one she eventually cast for the lead role, in her directorial debut (Luck By Chance, 2009) was her brother, Farhan, who'd been around all along!

"You cannot cast someone, unless they are ready. And feel that they want to do this. It took Farhan a while to get there—that he wants to act, and that he is a really good actor." While practically the entire Bollywood A-list came down for cameos in Luck By Chance, including both Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan (guessing, for the first time in the same film, although not in the same frame), Farhan was the seventh star to read/consider/hear the script. Hrithik Roshan played the second lead. "Luck By Chance is a book that I am going to write one day, about how that film got made," Zoya sighs.

Can't wait. It'd be quite a telling tinsel-town tale, given that nobody in Bombay does it. And Zoya is perfectly positioned to—not just as the quintessential insider, but as someone who can surprise you with her adorably random zaniness, on occasion. Recently at an interview she called herself the love-child of directors Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap. What does that mean? "That I am halfway between Indie and commercial, you know."

One time I remember getting a smoke with a group, outside a closed-door meeting with director Oliver Stone who was in Bombay then, and Zoya casually mentioned, "You know, there are four kinds of people in the world—John, Paul, George and Ringo." What?

I bring that up again: "That is a line from a Tom Robbins book. Have you read Tom Robbins? I love him. I don't remember what the context of that conversation was. You can look at everyone, and be like—that's a Paul, Ringo, George. I am a John, for sure!"

And while her films primarily deal with real, human, often raw emotions, there is this carefree cattiness that inevitably slips in too. It's only fair that we dig into a couple of stories behind some stellar, surprising choices she's made so far. For example, why/how/when did a ladies' bag, called Bagwati, bag a proper part in the breezy masterpiece Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara?

"That comes from Reema and a close friend of ours, Shai Heredia, who's an academic, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and hysterically funny. She and Reema were on a road trip, and they kept talking to Shai's bag. Think they were just tripping! We just put it into Zindagi."

It was Zoya's second film, with Farhan and Hrithik back on her frame, but in a much wider canvas, although the script started out in her head as a small, cathartic, road movie, about three boys in a car—for all the road trips she's taken in her life. Over time, of course, the script "developed a life of its own".

The film she co-wrote after was Reema's Talaash. It's a supernatural thriller that, by the way, was based on a true story, that happened to her! "You have to stop. I am going to be the crazy lady that goes on interviews and says all this shit. I know it sounds really crazy, and I don't want to be propagating this nonsense. But, I had a strange experience on Haji Ali, while a bunch of us were driving back from a nightclub. We thought we had hit a naked woman in the middle of the road. Everybody was freaking out. This is something I told Reema about, and where Talaash came from. I am not going to repeat this story, ever again!"

Okay how about the dog called Pluto, who's the narrator/POV of Dil Dhadakne Do; where does he come from? "From my super-smart, intelligent beagle Zen, who passed away last year. You can find him on my Insta page, Zen Akhtar. Zen would look at us as though he is watching National Geographic—that we are the animals, and he is like, 'What are they doing?' That's Pluto. Even the way the film is shot [as a result] is observational—there are no close ups, only 'wides'."

After a preview screening for Aamir Khan and his wife, Kiran Rao, both of whom Zoya makes it a point to get a feedback from before her film's final cut, she asked Aamir if he'd like to voice the dog: "He was, like, after these many years, you have offered me the voice of a dog? I said, please do it. He was, like, yeah, totally! And he just came [on-board], like a sweetheart. It was great!"

Is there anything she'd like to change about Dil Dhadakne Do? "I think the title. Would have been nicer [if it had] a little more gravitas." How about the climax (that was rather OTT, compared to the rest of the film's tone)?

"I actually liked the climax (of the mom, dad, sister jumping off the ship, with lifeboats to chase down brother/Ranveer Singh's character). The whole metaphor of the trip is that you can't get rid of anyone. Family is what you are stuck with. You can't just walk out the door. Eventually, when shit hits the fan, they are the only ones who will pull you up too. So when everyone tells me, I don't like the climax; I am like, cool, so what would you do? Till now nobody has given me a better ending. If there is one, I'd be like, damn!"

What did upset Zoya even before the release of Dil Dhadakne Do though was people taking the piss out of the picture for it being centred on lives of the super-privileged—intended also as a barb against movies that Zoya had directed thus far.

"Firstly I don't think it was criticism. There is nothing for me to take home from it. It is like somebody seeing a trailer of Gully Boy and saying, oh, this is about poor people. And I made Made in Heaven, along with Gully Boy. And that is about very rich people!"

"I was being interviewed by this woman wearing diamonds and solitaires, and she was telling me, it [the film] is about rich people. I was, like: Would it bother you, if your husband has an affair? Why? But you have solitaires on, it shouldn't bother you! What does it even mean?"

Before Gully Boy — set in a Mumbai slum and the city's underground rap scene—released, it got roundly compared to the American ghetto, hip-hop biopic, 8 Miles. Did that bother her? "The two people I spoke to [to base the film on their lives] are living here. You can talk to them. So, no, I didn't get into it. It bothered me, when they compared Zindagi to Hangover [producer Ritesh Sidhwani had to respond to Warner Bros]. Now, I think that's what they do."

Inspirations from dogs and spirits apart, what makes Zoya's filmmaking process special—given what we've managed to gauge so far—is she is capable of working backwards. Where she must know end, before she locks her script. Which isn't true for many filmmakers, who often arrive at the conclusion, as they navigate the story or characters' journeys: "I have to set a goal. That goal may change. But I when I set off, I have to know where I am taking the film. Otherwise I meander. I need a direction I am shooting at, you know!"

The other thing is her complete clarity on the point she's trying to make—so much so that she can distill each film into a single line, which is different from a log-line that describes a plot: "Of course Gully Boy is about a Muslim kid from Dharavi, who expresses himself through rap. It is a rags-to-riches, coming-of-age story. You can pin it down in any log line. But at the core of it, the film is about class. Luck By Chance is really about self-esteem. Zindagi is about living, seizing the day. Dil Dhadakne Do is a film about projection—who we actually are, and what we tend to project. It is what lenses the film, creates the base."

This sort of sharpness of thought, cutting through fluff, getting to the point, is also something Zoya shares with her father Javed, as a communicator in general—whether it be his works as lyricist, screenwriter, people's poet, or popular orator. He's possibly India's finest conversationalist—whose quick repartees and general gyan stick with you, if not go viral online.

Is there something Zoya remembers he told her that she's held as talisman? "Little things, you know. That when you are writing a script, whatever your story is, you've got to be able to lift your viewer. By the end of it, just lift your viewer! Don't resort to cheap shit to get a laugh or clap. Say it in the most base-denominator way, if you have to. But find a higher level of communication." It's tough, bohot hard.

Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 2, 2020)

Coming a close second to the barrage of exercise videos that have flooded social media news feeds amid the lockdown are live concerts from folk of the music fraternity. Joining the growing league of musicians enthralling fans from home is Sona Mohapatra, who recently conducted a contest for her fans, urging them to identify three looks from her music videos, and guess the songs they featured in. The first 20 to answer correctly were told to make a song request, and name a person they'd want to dedicate it to.

At a live concert to be held today at 4 pm, the singer along with composer-husband Ram Sampath, will belt out the numbers.

Mohapatra says, "Apart from performing these songs acoustically, we also plan to share a few behind-the-scenes anecdotes of working on our albums and films like Delhi Belly, Talaash, and Fukrey, and shows like Satyamev Jayate and Coke Studio. Fans will be able to ask us questions. We can engage with each other and share feedback." She urges individuals to take to such forms of communication while practising social distancing. "Human contact in these tough times is welcome."

The industry is going through a major downturn with corporate money drying up and most films going on the floors are not getting the budgets they would like. There are many reasons giving for this but eventually its down to content and how a section of the industry moved away from the Hindi roots to this so called new age cinema which we call DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema. For one because this film started it despite not being liked and secondly a section of the industry wanted to make and believed in it but only god knows why as the results were never there. A couple of weeks back we wrote about Disney India who tended to support this cinema with most of their films but whenever they went to rooted Hindi cinema with the story telling that the audience understood they delivered a ROWDY RATHORE, CHENNAI EXPRESS and DANGAL but sadly it was a few and far between.

Last week we wrote about the fiasco of DIL CHAHTA HAI (2001) which started this cinema which a section of the industry loved but the audience did not care for so if one of the biggest supporters of this cinema Disney India are written about then the actual biggest advocates Excel Entertainment have to be written about and more so as it will explain why this cinema just does not have a chance. Also what happens is that if there is some support for this new age cinema it is in the internet world as people do send mails saying these films are good but that is the opinion where watching is concerned which is box office plus television it tells a totally different story be it DIL CHAHTA HAI, ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA or BARFI. Its a case of being talked about but not really watched.

Nothing helps better to explain the failure of this cinema and its story telling style which has been probably picked up from everywhere in the World barring our own cinema than the filmography of Excel Entertainment. Disney India supported this cinema but at least they had a good outing occasionally like ROWDY RATHORE, CHENNAI EXPRESS and DANGAL which the audiences loved but Excel Entertainment were made of sterner stuff and did not flinch once and stuck to the new age cinema until now with RAEES.

Excel Entertainment has sixteen films in their filmography to date and all belong to the same cinema. The films are DIL CHAHTA HAI, LAKSHYA, DON, HONEYMOON TRAVELS PVT LTD, ROCK ON, LUCK BY CHANCE, KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK, GAME, ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA, DON 2, TALAASH, FUKREY, DIL DHADAKNE DO, BANGISTAN, BAAR BAAR DEKHO and ROCK ON 2. Some of these films are HITS but even those HITS are under performers as they were expected to do better. It is important to note that out of these fifteen films, six are with Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan and this is what says it all as what are the numbers for the films with these big stars. DON 2 with Shah Rukh Khan is the highest grosser at just 106 crore nett out of these films and it came in the same year as a much disliked Shah Rukh Khan film RA.ONE which did 114 crore nett and rated double of DON 2 on television. If that is not under performance then what is as RA.ONE was better from every angle though even RA.ONE was not appreciated.

DON 2 was a sequel of DON (2006) which was a remake of the 1978 DON film starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and Pran. This weird thinking cinema is even reflected in DON (2006). DON in 1978 did very well, it was not a huge grosser or anything but was made in a restricted production budget (70 lakhs) which enabled very good profits for all. The restricted budget meant that DON (1978) could have been improved on as you have a winning story and now you have the budget also. This would not be a case with a SHOLAY (1975) as that is hard if not impossible to improve on. So DON is a good choice for a remake but it takes some creative mind to kill off the biggest reason why DON (1978) did so well and that was the simpleton who has to replace criminal. That character was the rooted Indian one and was killed off in DON (2006) which meant biggest plus gone so box office was never going to fly.

Those are the two Shah Rukh Khan films. Then there is LAKSHYA with Hrithik Roshan coming after the huge success of KOI MIL GAYA which was an urban drama with a war setting and the results were simply bad. Then there is ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA with Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif which a section of the audience watched but the other rejected it outright but a 90 crore nett total for a film with Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif means its just the stars and the film itself added nothing. For these stars together in 2011 this total should come eyes closed. How many people can relate with people trekking around Europe and singing songs in foreign languages in India? The film was supposed to be an emotional drama and they say emotions are universal and its true but not when the characters are not relatable. The film was a total disaster on television.

Then there is Aamir Khan with DIL CHAHTA HAI and TALAASH. Enough has been said about DIL CHAHTA HAI and TALAASH is probably the only poor Aamir Khan film in a decade simply because nothing is there in the film. It looks like a remake of some B grade European thriller. The film grossed 92 crore nett which is again only the actor taking it there as film has only negative points. But Aamir Khan was not left alone with just two films. He was made to be a voice over of a dog in DIL DHADAKNE DO which is crazy and where do these creative ideas come from? Aamir Khan may have a relationship with the makers but why do a voice over of a dog? The Hindi translation for dog is slang which led to the North Indian multiplex audience laughing for the wrong reasons every time Aamir Khan spoke as they knew it was him with the face of the dog. Again it was an emotional family drama but with a family which was not relatable so how can the film work on an emotional level? Also its not about the family being rich or from high society which makes it not relatable. KABHI KHUSHI KABHIE GHAM in 2001 also had a rich family but the characters were relatable which led to the emotions working in a big way. Actually it comes down to presentation. On a side note even if that huge blockbuster had a voice over by a dog it would have had a different result.

These sort of results with big actors say there is something wrong. Its not actually Excel Entertainment but the cinema that is being made and they have stuck to it though it can't even get results with the biggest stars (The biggest star Salman Khan is not in any of the films but its doubtful if even he could have made a difference to the results if the films remained the same). The stars are also at fault here for making bad choices but they have got away with it as they had other films to back these bad ones. Even Excel Entertainment deserve credit as producers because they off loaded all these films to corporates though that was made easy having big stars but the prices meant that the corporates were always going to lose somewhere unless these films became SUPER HITS as that's what is expected from Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan as a minimum. Also it made it easier for Excel to offload their smaller films as it enabled them to sell them in a package with the big star ones.

All the films made by Excel Entertainment till date can be called Hindi films as they are in that language but they are miles from being real Hindi films which appeal to real India. Then you have stories of young stars like Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Varun Dhawan doing the director of ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA and DIL DHADAKNE DO's next which is scary as these boys have potential but it can't be fulfilled if your doing the wrong cinema that has no potential today or going forward. Of course we can be wrong and this film may not be that DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema and then its a different story but all you can go by is the track record.

But there is always HOPE and there's RAEES which looks a real Hindi film from the promos, its a first for Excel Entertainment. The film looks rooted and the characters seem more relatable to the Indian audience. When we see the promo the doubts come as we know the history of Excel Entertainment so despite a good theatrical you think the DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema will be there somewhere though the hope is that its not. The difference is that the public does not know the history of Excel Entertainment and they are seeing the trailers worth only which will make them come out but if that so called new age cinema is there distorting the film they will find out fast enough.

If Disney India looks back they will know today where they have gone wrong but its possibly too late there and here with Excel Entertainment it would be good to see RAEES work in a big way as that will help showing the way forward. But for RAEES to work it has to be a real Hindi film as if its the DIL CHAHTA HAI type then it's all just about how far can Shah Rukh Khan star power take it and big numbers just don't happen on star power alone as can be seen with the results of DIL CHAHTA HAI, LAKSHYA, DON, ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA, DON 2 and TALAASH.

It is important going forward that cinema which is not going to work is left alone and this can only happen if studios understand the audience. The corporates are almost gone or not paying big money which made box office irrelevant for producers in terms of risk. So the industry can now only survive on results, either box office or television but preferably both and these big results can only come with rooted Hindi cinema. Once in a while the DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema will also work like BARFI (2012) but that is the exception not the rule.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui talks about how working with Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh has helped him
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 29, 2015)


A self proclaimed ‘struggler’, Nawaz has acted with all the three Khans as well as actors from the younger generation like Varun Dhawan. But he doesn’t let this distract him from his role. “An actor and a cricketer is the same. Irrespective of whether you hit a century in the last match, you cannot feel too happy and underperform in the next match. Similarly, with my films, I start from the scratch. I am happy that people are appreciating me. But I don’t let that shift my focus from my performance. I always start from zero,” he explains.

But hasn’t sharing space with three Khans helped him in some way? “Definitely, it has helped me a lot,” he continues, “Working with the Khans has benefited my small films. When I do a film with Salman, Shah Rukh or Aamir, 95 per cent of the audience comes to watch the film. If five per cent of that audience come and watch my smaller films, my other films too will become a hit. That’s possibly the biggest take away for me,” he adds.

‘Aamir didn’t recognise me’
Not many people know that Sarfarosh was Nawaz’s first role ever. “It was just a 40-second role in the film,” he rues. But he also revealed that Aamir could not recognise him while shooting for Reema Kagti’s Talaash. “I told him I had worked with him in Sarfarosh when we were shooting for Talaash. After Sarfarosh, I had also done a film Peepli Live under his banner. But tab maine unko bataya nahi tha,” he smiles.

‘SRK se mila ittefaq se!’
Nawaz will be seen with Shah Rukh in Raees. He reveals, “I have already shot for one schedule of the film. I play the role of a cop and my character too is based in Gujarat. We start shooting for the Ahmedabad portions from September. Shah Rukh is an amazing co-star to work with. I had many scenes to shoot with him. He takes care of you and is very grounded. He is a thorough professional as well.” But this isn’t the first time Nawaz met the superstar. He recalls a previous incident, “I had met him by chance last year. He was going to shoot for Happy New Year and I was going to Chicago for my shoot. So, I was sitting in the lounge where I slept. Suddenly, someone was calling me. When I opened my eyes, I saw it was SRK. I was shocked and then we had a talk. He told me he’s going to New York and then he asked me to meet when free. It was a really sweet gesture.”

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; December 8, 2014)

Aamir Khan is keeping his cards close to his heart, at least as far as PK goes. And while he doesn’t share much about the film and his character, he’s game to talk about almost anything else. So, we talked figures, risks and creative pursuits and finding a fine balance between the two...

As the ‘founder’ of the Rs 100 crore club, how do you see this trend going forward?
It’s not me who makes films with such an agenda! (Laughs) But it is a very unfortunate trend because the moment creative people start thinking of numbers, the shadow of the number influences the kind of films they choose or pick. The moment I start doing films which have the potential to only do Rs 100 crore business, my choice becomes very limited. Then, I can only do an Avengers or a Spider-Man, which would bring in that kind of money. That really kills creativity to a very alarming extent.

Do you follow your gut instinct?
I have always selected films based on what I feel about them. A film like Taare Zameen Par went on to do huge business. But at the time I was making it, I had no idea how it would fare. I selected that because I loved the story. I selected Rang De Basanti because I loved the story, despite it being the fifth remake of Bhagat Singh and Azad! I did Lagaan when the entire industry considered it a disaster. Then you also have films like Sarfarosh. I have not picked these films thinking about box office numbers.

But they did do big business...
That they went on to do big box office business is great but that too shows us that the audience is changing, they want different stuff and their tastes are broadening. In movies, I am selling you stories so I cannot sell you the same story more than once. Each time you want a different story. I would prefer breaking the formula rather than following it.

The suspense behind Talaash was out the first day itself. Don’t you think not revealing much about PK has you running the same risk?
I don’t think that would be the case with PK. In my mind when I signed Talaash, I knew it would not bring in huge numbers because it is not such a film. If I had to work in films which will give me numbers only, I would have never picked a film like Talaash. When I read the script, I loved it and I wanted to do it. When we sat down to discuss the potential of Talaash, my judgment was that it would do a net box office of Rs 60-70 crores India-wide, with a star like me in it who’s currently successful. We made the film appropriately within a limited budget and then overseas we fetched around Rs 40-45 crore. The film went on to do 95 crores. Whatever happened on the net, I have no idea but it did 40% higher than what I expected it to do. For me, it was a happy situation to be. So if the similar thing happens with PK, I would still be happy! Whatever our judgment is for PK, if people give us 40% higher this time as well, then why would I not be happy?

So how do you decide how much to spend on a movie?
After I get on with the project, the practical side kicks in and we feel that this film has a certain potential so we make sure we spend less than that. The people investing in the film should not lose their money.

Subhash K Jha (DNA; April 16, 2014)

The endless will-he-won’t-he speculation on Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s presence in Rahul Dholakia’s Raees can finally be put to rest. The harried actor has rubbished the reports of him working in the movie. “I am at a loss to understand where these reports come from! I was never offered Raees. So the question of accepting or refusing the film doesn’t arise. Someone in the media decided that I was part of the film. Then they decided I wasn’t going to be a part of it. All this drama is very distracting and embarrassing,” says the actor.

He says that as the role in Raees requires the actor to put on 20 kilos, he would never have been able to pull it off. “Even if I ate chocolates, sweets and pizzas round-the-clock, my metabolism won’t allow me to put on that kind weight. So there is no question of doing the role.”

Nawaz adds that he shares a terrific rapport with the Raees producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. “I did Talaash with them. And I was very happy with the outcome. I share a great relationship with them. I’d love to work with them again. In fact Excel (Farhan and Sidhwani’s production company) did offer me another film which I couldn’t do because of date problems. But Raees never came to me.”

He is now gearing up to plunge into Sajid Nadiadwala’s Kick. “I’ve a fabulous role in the film. Plus, I’ve some really exciting scenes with Salman Khan. Kick is my most commercial project to date. It’s the kind of action films I used to watch and enjoy as a child. I never knew I’d actually be a part of one of those.”

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; January 15, 2014)

Suneel Darshan is launching his son Shiv in his upcoming film Karle Pyaar Karle. His family has been in cinema for 75 years. Suneel’s paternal grandfather produced Pakistan’s first movie post partition. His maternal grandfather Nanabhai Bhatt, who is also Mahesh Bhatt’s father (Suneel’s mother and Mahesh Bhatt are real siblings), directed the highest number of films. Suneel’s father produced several films. He himself has produced 12 films of which he has directed eight. Apart from his younger brother Dharmesh Darshan, who he introduced as a director, he played a key role in the careers of Akshay Kumar and the two Kapoor sisters, Karisma and Kareena. The father and son Suneel and Shiv in a conversation with Bombay Times. Excerpts:
 
IN CONVERSATION WITH SHIV DARSHAN

How early did you know that you wanted to be an actor? I went to Arya Vidya Mandir school, where I would always get into trouble due to my long hair, even though it was not this long at that time. My PT sir would kind of humiliate me and once he cut my hair in front of everybody, but I still always kept long hair as I liked the feel of it. I always knew that I wanted to be a part of the industry, but not as an actor. Our family was into distribution in a big way, so may be as a distributor. But there was this one particular incident after which I wanted to pursue acting. My father was shooting for Talaash with Akshay Kumar. But due to medical reasons, he could not make it to the set one day. I was in school at that time when my dad asked me if I could body double for him that day. They put makeup on my face, I wore his costume and they chopped my hair as I have always had long hair and I gave the shot. It was a very basic shot, but I really liked that two minutes of fame and decided that I wanted to become a star. I then started training. I was not the fittest person and was huge, weighing 130 kgs at one point in time. I took acting lessons from Kishore Namit Kapoor and Anupam Kher, did gymnastics, learnt dancing, including Kathak, for expressions, but still felt something was lacking, so I went to study acting at the New York Academy where I also learnt dancing from the Broadway Dance Centre. I returned and felt ready for films, which is when my dad offered me Karle Pyaar Karle. My dad always told me that patience is a virtue in the industry and things don’t happen overnight as filmmaking is a process. I never understood that earlier. But today at 28, having done one movie, I understand that and have become more patient and am both excited and nervous.
 
IN CONVERSATION WITH SUNEEL DARSHAN:  
Talk about your son Shiv? Apart from his good looks, he is committed, disciplined and has surprised me as an actor. I have had a beautiful relationship with him where even though we may not talk to each other too much, we understand each other very well. Rather than him respecting me, I respect him for his abilities and his warmth. He is the focus for me and my presence in every department of this film is due to my love for my child, apart from of course, my love for cinema. He is patient, ambitious and restless and is hardworking and sincere. We always wanted to give him undivided attention and so, he is the only child we had. His look is a bit international, but he has Indianness inside despite his modern international exposure.
 
Actors that you worked with who hold a special place in your life? I connect more to my cinema than my actors. I worked with Sunny Deol in three films Intaqaam, Lootere and Ajay and he was on a pedestal for me till we ran out with each other. Akshay Kumar had given a string of many flops when I worked with him in Jaanwar and then Ek Rishtaa. I found him enthusiastic and hungry for work, which for an actor is extremely important. He was also very disciplined and committed to his work. We were very close and worked on seven films together and hold a special place in each other’s life. He is a good boy who is easy and comfortable to work with and is ambitious. He always wanted to be the best and I would always tell him, ‘You should be next to the best as the fear of being at the top is what makes you go down’. I worked a lot with the Kapoor sisters — Karisma and Kareena. Mr Rishi Kapoor used to jokingly say to me, ‘You are the bread winner of the Kapoor family’. I was fond of both Lolo and Bebo, but my bonding with and respect was highest for Babitaji. I always saw her as a woman of steel as it is not easy to move in this world with your two daughters and create a dignity and a place there.

Karle Pyaar Karle, produced by Shree Krishna International, releases January 17.