MUMBAI MIRROR (June 3, 2019)

Kumud from Bharat was a challenging character to play because it spans over 40 years and you watch her go from her 20s to her 60s which is something I’ve not done earlier, barring a couple of scenes in Baar Baar Dekho. In this film, I get to depict the life of this woman and her journey with Salman’s (Khan) character Bharat. The prep was different for every decade depending on the era, for instance during the 1970s, when Kumud is a feisty young woman, it was all about getting the tone and dialogue delivery right. But as she grew older, it was important to understand her state of mind at every phase, identify with her primary thoughts and fears, and align myself to her emotional graph as that would help mould my body language.

We shot the film in chapters and I did a lot of workshops to understand Kumud and her mannerisms. She speaks ‘saaf’ Hindi and I wanted to be fluent and comfortable with the language so I rehearsed my dialogue with experts.

For Zero’s Babita Kumari too I had several discussions with Aanand sir (producer-director Aanand L Rai) and a few others to ‘feel’ her emotions. Analysing her fears at times made me break into tears during my interactions with Shah Rukh (co-star Shah Rukh Khan). Initially, Aanand sir had wanted Babita to be like the actresses in our industry, but later she turned out to be diametrically opposite, a self-destructive character, and I would shut myself away from the world because the set was not a happy place to be at.

Physical prep is easy for me as that’s all about discipline and execution. So, for the Tiger franchise (Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai), in which I play ISI agent, Zoya, it was all about strength and flexibility training for a certain number of hours and repeating the process till I had perfected the action. It was a mathematical process which, if done right, gave you the desired result.

I wanted longer rehearsals for Tiger Zinda Hai, but Ali (Abbas Zafar, director) was adamant about filming my solo action scene on a pre-decided date. I trained with a team of professionals from the West. They taught me how to lock a gun, load and fire it. I also took sniper training. Agents also walk in a certain way and have a way of communicating messages and conveying commands—everything was a part of this workshop.

For Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan, I took some belly dancing lessons for “Sheila Ki Jawani”. The training enhanced my core strength. I rehearsed the moves for around two hours a day, then, separately, with the belly dancers. We would stand, roll up our sleeves, learn and practice continuously and rigorously to get control over the core muscles because that’s what belly dancing is all about. I later used that trick in other films. We shot the song in just two-and-a-half days.

As compared to “Sheila Ki Jawaani”, “Chikni Chameli” in Agneepath was a lot more difficult. It was shot over nine days, I had to dance on gravel and sand, and by the end of it my bare feet were bleeding. By evening, when my energy was flagging, I would cheer the background dancers to get myself going. There’s so much energy in the song, and that’s the emotion which you get to see on the screen.

In an exclusive chat held at the mid-day office, writer and social-media sensation Mrs Funnybones Twinkle Khanna shines a light on fame and films, as she turns producer with the Akshay Kumar starrer 'Pad Man'
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; February 4, 2018)

You mentioned you haven't given an interview as a producer before. To ease you in therefore, how about we start with what I'm sure you've been asked all your life: Twinkle, are you really named after the nursery rhyme?
The apocryphal tales from my childhood would suggest that I was named (Twinkle) because it rhymed with sprinkle and sparkle. Luckily, I wasn't named Wrinkle.

What's wrong with Wrinkle?
Well, Wrinkle would just be slightly worse than Twinkle. At least, here you're shining, there you're sagging. Having said that, for very long, I didn't like my name. I fought against it. But as with everything else, my perspective (on this) was influenced as much by literature as life. I read Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter Of Maladies, which has a short-story about a girl with a fancy Bengali name, who insists on introducing herself to everyone as Twinkle - her 'pet name'. everyone is baffled by this, including her husband. And she's a popular, cool girl, who still insists on going by Twinkle. So I thought - if she's okay with it, I can pull it off as well!

Was there a connection between Twinkle (in that short story), and you? Did you ever meet or ask Jhumpa Lahiri?
Well I think there was a paragraph in there about an actress from Bombay, by the name of Dimple (Twinkle's mother). I guess she did kinda...

Oh, so there was a reference.
I don't know if it was completely directed at me. But it certainly did change my perspective!

The other name you're equally well-known by is Mrs Funnybones.
I seem to have a penchant for really funny names.

Now when you call yourself Mrs Funnybones, and write columns that are inherently funny, is there too much pressure to be funny at all times?
Now the good thing about hiding behind the persona of Mrs Funnybones - I mean that's not really me, it's a projection - is that I'm not supposed to be amiable, I'm just supposed to be myself. And cracking lame jokes comes easier to me than minding my P's and Q's, so I'm alright there. I used to feel the pressure in the beginning, but then realised that I just have to be myself, and really, how wrong can you go with that?

You've said before that since you were fat while growing up, humour became your natural defense mechanism. Is that cliche about fat people being funny really true?
It's not about fat people - it's about odd people being funny, while finding a way to fit in, making fun of others, before others can attack you. I mean, how non-conventional could I be? I was in a position where people would be nice to me, because of who my parents were. And they were also mean to me for the same reason. I had an odd name. I was the fattest girl, which is great, because I could sit on everyone in class, and beat them up. And I feel lucky to have been an oddball, forced to develop other skills. Because if I was really the prom queen, what would I be doing right now? Staring at my position - in my 40s, with the thing I banked on (beauty) depleting?

Going back to pressures of humour, I know stand-up comedians in particular, who are headaches to hang out with - they just keep thinking of repartees, comebacks, puns, during conversations. It's impossible to talk to them in a social setting!
Well, unfortunately, that describes me as well. And I do try really hard not to (fall into the trap), so I do my yoga to tell myself, "It's alright. I don't have to have the last, punch line!"

The other thing about humour is its decline that one senses in general. Would you agree?
You're telling me about it? (laughs). I definitely think so. But I'm divided on this (issue). There are certain things (we were used to) that I feel weren't politically correct -culturally, discriminatory, racist. And we're not okay with that anymore. But our funniest jokes used to be about other people. The other side of me feels sad, because we're losing that too. Or I'm losing opportunities!

There's also the element of an exponentially growing number of holy cows that you simply can't make fun of anymore. Or is that just a social-media thing?
My (Twitter) bio says that nothing is sacred, except laughter. And why do Hindu boys worship their mothers? Because their religion tells them to worship the cow! Clearly I'm the wrong person to talk to about holy cows.

Did you get trolled for it?
No!

Since you write opinion, that's the other thing happening, where every perspective is presently being boxed, while individuals are being conveniently reduced/diminished to labels: Bhakts, Libtards, and so on. Do you notice that?
I also see that if you write something 'Left-Liberal', as you'd call it, you get trolled majorly. I have a formula. Once I was writing a column about building a nation of tyranny on corpses of soldiers, and I began with saying that ornithologists can see a distinction between birds. I didn't get trolled, because most people didn't understand what ornithologist means, and they left it alone (laughs).

Politically, socially, your husband (Akshay Kumar) holds a totally separate world-view from yours. Is that fair to say?
I'd say our social, political ideologies, sense of humour, are very different. What's interesting is that after the first few years, we gave up trying to change each other. What we did instead was start to learn from each other. Luckily all his strengths are my weaknesses, and vice versa. What would I learn if we were more like each other anyway? I really believe two peas in a pod died of inertia. And we are not like that. So we continue to grow. Marriages essentially fail, when you try to clone the other person to become like you, it's not possible.

But he's protective of your public opinions, censoring your columns, we hear, cautioning you against going too far?
We're two different brains. Mine is a washing machine, whirling, chaotic. His thoughts are neatly folded in the closet of his mind. I need his stability to hem me in. He needs me to push him out of his comfort zone.



Why does it feel like we're reading a perfectly-worded column of yours?
What can I say, I'm smart, you don't get to meet too many of those (laughs). So in a certain situation, he's only trying to protect me from the fact that there'd be people throwing stones at our house. And I appreciate that. Because I could, sometimes, get into a lot of trouble on my own.

Well you do represent 'soft power' - having grown up in the limelight - which inevitably make for soft-targets. What's the worst sort of targeting you've faced for your opinions? Have they percolated offline?
Well I had an elderly lady accost me at a hospital once, while I was waiting for my mother-in-law's test reports, and she kept asking me what I had against Yogi Adityanath. And she was a really old lady, and I kept telling her this was not the right time, and she just went on regardless.

Given excessively famous parents (Rajesh Khanna, Dimple), I'm sure you've been used to this sort of intrusion all your life, no?
I had no choice over where I was born. But being married to a movie-star was my choice. Still it (intrusion) is not something I'm comfortable with. I prefer sitting behind my desk - that's my life. When I'm pushed out there, of course, I have, with time, developed the abilities to deal with it too.

One of the challenges of your life, you've said before, was to be normal. What did you mean by that?
I've had a turbulent life, first of all. I went from living in (my father's) mansion, going to school in a convertible, to shifting into my grandmother's house, where my sister and I would sleep on mattresses on the floor. I would go everywhere in rickshaws that I absolutely loved. My friends had nicknamed me 'Rickshaw Rani' for some reason. (This carried on) until I got the signing amount for my first movie, and I put a down-payment for my car - a white esteem, which was a big thing. I could have borrowed my mother's car. But we were raised in a certain way, seeing my mom working - raising not just me, but my sibling, and my grandparents. I realised early on that I needed to be financially independent. So I don't know if I've had that semblance of a normal life, if you know what I mean.

I read a lovely column of yours (it also had Akshay's story in it) about taking suburban trains, and was quite surprised that you did take the locals growing up.
How else would I commute? As I said, I had a convertible until I was 10, and then it vanished. But more than that, it was about a work ethic, and a mindset. I went to boarding school, the most defining time of my life, where I turned from a complacent child, who came last in a class of 37, to always being in the top three. Which is true for children in general - it's the circumstances that propel them to go either way, not just their abilities. So the misfortunes, that I thought were devastating, turned out to be assets.

Looking at the post 3 Idiots phase, where so much premium is put on 'passion', there must be kids who probably want to become engineers or doctors, but their parents will probably force them to become poets! That's a joke. But this actually happened to you; you'd scored 97 in math...
Yeah, I wanted to be a chartered accountant. But my mom didn't even pay attention (to that). The thought was just thrown out of the window. I had applied for my (CA) entrance exam, during my second year in commerce. And I used to keep getting these (film) offers. There was Time Machine, which Shekhar Kapur was making, that I said no to, and many others that kept coming.

So it was clear to your mom that you would be in the movies?
She told me that this is the time (that I can pursue movies). I can always do other things later. And it worked out. And like I said, I really wanted to get financially independent quickly, and this was a good way.

Here's something that you do in all your interviews: you totally downplay your acting career, as if it never happened, or say that you sucked at it. You've had 17 lead-actor credits against your name, that's a lot!
Were you writing reviews at that time?

No.
Otherwise, I would've asked if you've ever written a good review about me!

Well your last film, Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (2001), was good. Shah Rukh Khan, for instance, is known as Baadshah (1999) for the film where you were the heroine...
What's the point of all these things? I don't even like my children watching my movies. And my son is such an a**. He keeps replaying a clip from the film Jaan (1996), where I am kissing around a man's nipple. He made a collage out of this for one of my birthdays. It's sick [laughs]. I don't think my family has been supportive of what you think has been a great career!

But you were pretty much in the thick of things back in that decade.
All I wanted to do was get back home. On sets, I would read books. There were times when I'd be sitting, and knitting, and my spot-boy would tell me, 'Aap mat aisa kariye. Sab log Auntyji bolenge.' So you had to live up to an image, and I wasn't that person.

If you felt like the 'outsider', you'd actually have the best observations to make. So much of writing is reminiscence, isn't it? Still, you've never written about showbiz/movies.
I couldn't really see people as clearly as I can now. Though, of course, you couldn't miss some people who were in a kaleidoscope of colours. I had a (male) co-actor who cancelled shoot, and he called me the next day to say that he was really sick, because he had a problem with his uterus [laughs]. I didn't really feel like saying anything after that.

What's the craziest story that you remember from a set?
This uterus story was really funny. And he (the same actor) always had strange medical issues. Once we were shooting in Switzerland, and after pack-up he said that his ear was numb, and the doctor was pleased that he got himself checked up in time - otherwise his brain would have dislocated! And I was like, this really can't be happening. So I have all these weird stories but somewhere, somehow, I don't enjoy writing about them.

Have things changed a lot in the movies since?
Well, I haven't produced any films, except Pad Man.

Are you going to disown Tees Maar Khan? You're credited as a producer there too, among a couple of other films.
My husband just put my name, because I was lucky for him [laughs]. I haven't done anything in Tees Maar Khan. Pad Man is the only movie I have produced. Well, the movie business has completely changed so far as women, and women's roles, are concerned. even the way women are treated has changed drastically.

Were women in the movies treated as dim-witted back then?
Yes, most of us were. Which is why you are surprised that I come up with these quotes!

Which brings me to a point about intelligence, and acting. How intrinsically linked do you think the two are? Do you really need to be an intelligent person to be a good actor?
It depends on how you define intelligence. If you are looking at somebody who is emotionally intelligent, then yes, they would be good at acting. But someone who is well-read might not be a good actor. I don't think intelligence has anything to do with your abilities. The ability of an actor is to feel emotions, and enact them. I didn't have that.

I've met actors who seem totally clueless and blank about the world they live in, and yet they shine on screen when they have to portray complex characters. Do you think it just comes naturally?
I think being able to act, as a quality, is as inbuilt as being able to write, sing or dance. You can't cultivate it. You are born with it. As for (some) actors you meet who seem blank-even now when I do a few commercials for brands, on the sets, there's just a whole bunch of people only talking about the current styles, all day. So you can't blame people for not being vocal (on stuff about the world), because their entire day is either spent in performing, or investing in the way they look. Where is the time to invest in their brains?

What did you do to not be in that bubble?
I was never in the bubble, that's the whole point. By the end of it, I started doing my own hair and make-up, because I got bored, just sitting, and looking myself in the mirror. I never felt that I would fit in.

Clearly you fit in quite well now as a bestselling author; and a first-time producer.
Yes (laughs). We keep telling kids that they have to be good at sports, or look a certain way. But it's your flaws, which make you unique, and that pay off in the end. By the time you're 10, your personality and attributes get completely defined. And if you play on those attributes, and strengths, those are things that really hold you as an adult, and (drive you towards) success.

Audience questions:

I'm told you literally had to chase Arunachalam Muruganantham around to get rights for the story of Pad Man? [Mohar Basu]
Yes, for some reason he couldn't just pick up the phone. When we finally met, he told me a lot of people were chasing him too. He mentioned Abhay Deol, Akshaye Khanna, who wasn't Akshaye Khanna, it was actually me. But I knew I really wanted to write the story and that it needed to get out there to every household. So I just chased him relentlessly for, I think, seven to eight months. I could have had another baby in that time [laughs].

Do you see television and web streaming platforms as the future of cinema? [Amit Karn]
For me, it (the future) is in immersive, virtual reality, where we're completely immersed in an environment, within a scenario. That's where we are heading. There is pollution, traffic. We're not going to be able to leave our houses very soon. So where are we going to be? Living in cubicles, pretending (through headsets/glasses) that we are living in a much wider world.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 30, 2017)

Katrina Kaif and Abhishek Bachchan, who have co-starred in Dhoom 3 and Sarkar, are set for a reunion. The duo is teaming up for the fi nale week of Farah Khan’s reality show, Lip Sing Battle, along with Boman Irani. Scheduled to be shot today, the episode will see Katrina, who has been shooting for the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer dwarf film, as the surprise element.

A source from the show reveals to Mirror, “Abhishek will put up a sexy act as he grooves to “Sheila Ki Jawani” from Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan. Katrina will make an entry mid-way and join him in the performance.” There is also expected to be an act on the Dhoom 3 title track.

The show’s finale week will also feature an episode with Rajkummar Rao, who had bowed out following a leg fracture last week. Now, the actor returns to complete his episode with Bareilly Ki Barfi co-star Kriti Sanon. Raj, who has just undergone a surgery, will be seen performing on a wheelchair and has already begun rehearsing for his act.

Farah Khan explains why Happy New Year’s success will be a morale boost to other women directors & talks about her next film with SRK
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; December 12, 2014)


People started writing you off after TMK. HNY rocked at the B-O and you became hot property again. Your take?
I didn’t take the criticism too seriously then and I’m not taking the praise for HNY seriously now. A creative person obviously has ups and downs, and eventually flops do happen. I’m uspet TMK didn’t do well, more so because the audience didn’t like it. But I believe you have talent and work hard, at some point, you will be successful. Unfortunately, ours is a very success-driven industry. These days, people jump on a film and tear it down before the conclusion is drawn. Who are they and what have they made? All Manmohan Desai films, Sholay and other cult classics received bad reviews, but they are the most remembered films now. So how does it matter if someone trashes my films? And once a film makes you happy, you forget all the bad reviews.

Does HNY’s ‘superhit’ tag take pressure off for your next?
You are definitely more relaxed after a superhit. Every director and actor whose movies have not worked will tell you there is a certain turmoil playing in you during times of failure. It is a better teacher than success. But successes make for better holidays! (Laughs)

Planning your next with SRK already?
Have I said this? Where? I am on a holiday! (Smiles) I have not planned anything. But after every big movie I make with Shah Rukh, I always tell him, ‘Now let’s make a chhota movie’, but it never happens. So I’m hoping that this time... maybe, I’ll be making a smaller movie with him. My next will definitely be with SRK, but it won’t be as big as Om Shanti Om or HNY!

SRK’s dates are already full with Fan, Raees and Rohit Shetty’s next. See your film happening anytime soon?
We can go on planning as much as we want. But when a film has to happen, it will! I don’t know now what we’re making next. Once we know, another six months will go into scripting, so there’s time!

Karan Johar’s done four films with SRK. You’ve done three and are planning a fourth with him. Is there a healthy competition between you two over him?
Everything is healthy, but there’s no competition at all. Technically speaking, I’ve shot with Shah Rukh more than anyone else. I shot at least 50-60 songs with him. That way, I’ve done a lot more shoots with him. And then, there are three films with him.

Bollywood's A-listers have always been known to throw punches rather than punch lines. But are the stars finally learning to laugh at themselves?
Sonal Nerurkar (THE TIMES OF INDIA; November 23, 2014)

Farah Khan on being a woman in a male-dominated industry and making it big on her own terms
Shubha Shetty-Saha (MID-DAY; November 2, 2014)

Farah Khan is a success story alright. Coming from a humble background, where she had to struggle to keep her and her family from starving, today she is the first woman director to have entered the Rs 100-crore club within the first five days of her film’s release. Excerpts from an interview:

How does it feel to be part of the Rs 100-crore club with Happy New Year?
I can’t tell you how good this feels. I have never said this before, but I need to now — our country is sexist and so is our industry. A male director gets away with anything. Why is there so much pressure on me to do a certain kind of film just because I am a woman? In fact, just the fact that my film is not what they expect a woman to make, and that it is successful, is empowering.

What kind of movies were you expected to make?
Sweet, small movies. I like watching them, but I don’t want to make them. Pleasing a billion people with your movie is an art in itself. When I made my debut movie, Main Hoon Na, some people criticised it. After that people made it a hit, so there is no bigger thing than the audience. Now they are saying Main Hoon Na was much better than Happy New Year. I can understand if they run down my Tees Maar Khan because it was a bad film and people unanimously rejected it. But not this one. Just the fact that it is making so much money simply means people are accepting it.

You have seen times when you struggled to survive, and now you are here. Does money spell happiness for you now?
We come from a very poor background. When my dad died, he had just Rs 30 in his pocket and there was a mountain of debt to be repaid. I was a little over 18 and Sajid was 14. I had to run around to collect money for his funeral. Sajid and I worked hard to clear those debts. I am still insecure about money and my family. That insecurity will never leave me. I do TV shows for money. The only film that I made for money was Tees Maar Khan. Even when we were struggling, and I worked as a choreographer, I never worked looking at money. In fact, I keep telling Shah Rukh let’s not waste money as my middle-class conditioning won’t leave me.

Have people’s attitudes toward you changed over the years? 
When I started out, I wasn’t treated badly at all. I got a lot of support from SRK, Javed (Akhtar) uncle and others. Many people gave me chances. It’s only when you become big and successful that people look at you as a threat. They get their claws out and start pulling you down. Those guys don’t care if you live or die so their praise or criticism doesn’t matter. I have learnt a way to deal with this. I just disconnect and go home and play with my kids, no matter what. Just yesterday I played dark-room with them. It took care of most things on my mind.

Talking about kids, with three of them and a full-fledged filmmaking career, how do you make the most of your time?
I am very good at time management. I am very punctual and I think it is due to my Parsi genes. I genuinely believe that even if you are not immensely talented, but are professional, you can last longer in this industry. I know of people who have lasted only because of their good behaviour while those who were more talented fizzled out because of their attitude. Also, you just have to be happy with what you are doing. You know, we women are superb at time management, and I try being there for my children after work. Yet, there have been days when I came home and they would have already gone to sleep. That would fill me with a lot of guilt. But that’s that. I move on.

Happy New Year was panned by critics. How do you feel about that?
Honestly, at this point, I’d rather look at the euphoria of people dancing in the aisles of Gaiety-Galaxy when the climax song was played than at a critic who is telling me what to make. My movie is not for critics — it is for people who pay for it, watch it and make it a success. Anyway, most critics know only the world between Lokhandwala and Bandra and they have a clear disconnect from the country we live in. Now they tell me Main Hoon Na was a much better movie than Happy New Year. One critic had given me half a star for Main Hoon Na. I had spent the whole day crying. But now I don’t take these things so seriously. If the movie does well, people forget. They had not spared Sholay. I received congratulatory calls for three days after Happy New Year released (laughs). I was so happy, because after Tees Maar Khan nobody had called. When Tees Maar Khan failed, people were only too happy to bring it down. I know it was a bad film but I could see some people actually looking at it as a celebration.

How did you deal with Tees Maar Khan’s failure?
At some level failure helps you more than success. If you can come out of failure, there is no better teacher for you. I have seen my dad fail and just go down. He began drinking and was unable to come out of it. Our family knows how to survive because we have seen him. I learnt a lot looking at that, and I think every woman can. Never think you are less capable than anyone. I am lucky to have some supportive men around me, but not many do. There will be an insecure husband, boss or a colleague around. Well, we have a boys’ club in the industry too, who are not too happy with a woman’s success.

Talking about supportive men, a lot of your success is attributed to SRK’s presence in your films.
But isn’t that true? The fact that he doesn’t do too many movies and chooses to do films with me is part of my success. I look at that as my success. More than anything, we have a great partnership. We have the same irreverent sense of humour, our synergy is good. According to astrologers, our kundalis match, too (laughs).

Farah Khan raises a toast to new beginnings with her favourite star
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 13, 2014)