Showing posts with label The Crown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Crown. Show all posts
I’m glad that after 21 years, people are still watching Kal Ho Naa Ho, dancing to Maahi Ve-Nikkhil Advani
8:13 AM
Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; December 10, 2024)
Call it serendipity or coincidence, Nikkhil Advani ended up with two releases on the same day last month – the re-release of Kal Ho Naa Ho and the release of the period drama Freedom At Midnight. He says he can’t really take credit for either of the projects or the release dates. “I was just offered the projects, and I didn’t say no,” he said during a conversation.
‘I ENJOY BEING ON SET’
Nikkhil says he enjoys filmmaking. “I enjoy being on set. I love being in a writers’ room. As a showrunner and producer, I constantly have to be in rooms where budgets are being discussed and, more importantly, where budget cuts are being slashed. I’ve never really enjoyed being in an editing room, though. I hate it because every time I watch my footage, I find myself thinking, ‘I could have shot this better. I wanted it to be better. Maybe we can change this,” he says.
‘IT WAS A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO USE LIGHTS LIKE THE CROWN’
Watching Freedom At Midnight may remind the audience of the historical drama The Crown. Nikkhil says, “Was it a conscious decision to be like The Crown? Yes, very much. What The Crown does is use very harsh backlight from the windows, and they shoot a lot on sets. We were also shooting extensively on sets, so it became an automatic reference point for us. Agar aap blue ya green screen use karte ho, then half your budget goes into VFX, and you can’t do anything else.”
He further explains, “These are things I’ve learned over the years. For instance, if I want the audience to feel a little more stressed out, I use darker colours and wood paneling. Colours were thought out very carefully because I wanted the audience to be emotionally connected to every scene of Freedom At Midnight.”
‘TRIED TO BE AS AUTHENTIC AS POSSIBLE’
Nikkhil says that as far as authenticity is concerned, the team tried their best. He explains, “But I don’t think it can ever be enough, right? The people being spoken about and shown in this story were giants. It’s not just about getting their physicality, speech, or walk right. What they thought, what they said, their vision – it was immense. What I tried to do was put the audience into a room with them and show, yeh log kaise thay.”
‘People still dance to Maahi Ve and send me clips’
“Neither did I have a choice about the release of Freedom At Midnight, nor did I have a say in the re-release of Kal Ho Naa Ho,” shares the filmmaker, adding, “I’m just glad that after 21 years, people are still watching Kal Ho Naa Ho, dancing to Maahi Ve, and sending me video clips.”
He says, “I didn’t consciously make these choices. Someone offered me Freedom At Midnight, and someone offered me Kal Ho Naa Ho. Maine keval bola, ‘Mujhe kaam chahiye, mujhe kaam karna hai.’ My sister (Monisha Advani) and my production partner, Madhu (Bhojwani), often ask me, ‘When will you turn around and start saying no?’ And I reply, ‘I won’t. I’ll never say no. If I’m offered a project, why would I say no?’ Logon ke paas kaam nahi hai. People often say, ‘You’re doing so much work,’ and the reason is simple I say yes to everything. When I was doing the post-production for Vedaa, I was simultaneously shooting Freedom At Midnight. I don’t say no; I only say yes. Karan (Johar) told me to do Kal Ho Naa Ho, and I said, Okay.”
I watch TV more than films. I mean, American TV series, not the saas-bahu ones-Anushka Sharma
7:45 AM
Anushka Sharma on her favourite TV series and why she would choose a web series over a reality show...
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 18, 2017)
B-Town actors are jumping on the TV bandwagon. While a few years ago, it was only the senior brigade — Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan — who were offered substantial roles in reality shows, now the younger crop of actors are making their presence felt on the small screen as well. Shahid Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandez judged Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, Arjun Kapoor hosted Khatron Ke Khiladi and Sonakshi Sinha was a judge on Indian Idol and Nach Baliye. We spoke to Anushka Sharma about working in a TV show.
A TV person!
Anushka says, “I watch a lot of TV. In fact, I watch TV more than films. Almost every show you can think of, I watch them. I mean, American TV series not the saas-bahu ones.” On the home turf, she prefers to “watch shows which TVF does.”
Anushka’s pick
She can’t name a favourite TV show. She rues, “It is so difficult to name a favourite. I watched The Crown recently and there are many others I like. So naming one would be criminal.” Laughing, she adds, “But my all time favourite is Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
No reality shows!
Anushka admits she has been offered a few TV shows but she hasn’t taken the bait, “I am not interested in hosting or judging any Indian reality shows. I have been offered a few reality shows, but I don’t think I want to do any of it right now. This is not the zone I want to get into, currently.”
Web shows over TV!
With the world taking rapid strides towards a digital revolution, web series too have become the in thing in India today. Filmmakers like Kabir Khan, Rohit Shetty, Farhan Akhtar are backing projects on the new platform.
Anushka reveals, “I am okay with doing anything that has great content. But I think I will be more keen to do a web series because that will be more progressive. And it has got to do a lot with how our world has suddenly become digital.”
Produce them too!
Anushka’s production house focusses on content-driven movies. While all her productions have featured the actress, Anushka says she would like to not just act, but also produce a web series someday. “I would love to back any web series if I genuinely believe in the content. There are so many stories to be told and now cinema is not the only medium. There are various other ways to reach out to people and web series is one of them,” she signs off.
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