Docu filmmaker Kabir Khan says that he is the inspiration behind John Abraham's character in Kabul Express, while Arshad resembles his friend Rajan Kapoor
How close is John Abraham's character to your own?
In my first draft of Kabul Express, John's character resembled mine completely, while Arshad portrayed my friend Rajan Kapoor, who is also a documentary filmmaker and accompanied me to Kabul on my sojourns. But once I finalised on the actors playing the roles, I modified the characters to make them more similar to their own personalities. Now, their characters are not a reflection of just us, but incorporate their personality traits too. For example, it is important to know the basics about the profession one is going to portray. So if one is not really aware of how documentary filmmakers operate, especially the ease with which they handle their cameras or the way they dress, the portrayal of the character looks unnatural. So I made John and Arshad sit with us, watch us and our documentary films, narrated the incidents surrounding the film and discussed their characters in detail, so they could imbibe these traits and portray them with ease.
How similar are the scenes when compared to the real-life incidents?
Most of the situations that we have shown are close to what Rajan and I experienced when in Kabul. However, many sequences have been dramatised for the sake of good story-telling. For example, we made sure that we shoot the film around the same time of the year as Rajan and I had shot the documentary movies, so that the script is logically correct. We have shot in the same locations that we visited in the past couple of years. The Busqashi and the Kebab khana sequences that you can see in the trailer use the same location as 2001.
You were faced with adverse conditions while shooting your documentary. Did John and Arshad go through the same problems in real and reel life during the making of the film?
Fortunately not! Back in 2001, the conditions in Afghanistan were far worse than what they are today. Back then the war had just broken out and not a single building was intact. Even our hotel was blown apart. However, this is not the case at the moment. Though certain dangers still persist, like dangers of landmines, security has improved considerably.
Even in terms of the food, all we got to eat was kebabs and naans. But now there are restaurants and we had better facilities, unless we were travelling to certain remote areas. But John was worst-affected of all since he's a vegetarian and couldn't eat well. That is why he fell ill.
The harsh weather posed a problem too. But while shooting the movie, we had to face a new set of problems. Our actors are extremely popular in Afghanistan which proved to be a problem – Taliban doesn't want normalcy to return to the country and they issued death threats to us. However, the security support was excellent and we continued to shoot.
Did a death threat from a powerful militant group looming over your heads help better the performances of the actors?
It is normal to react to threats and fear is bound to play on one's mind. This helped the actors understand and internalise the fear that loomed over us. I believe this has reflected in the film and added character to their roles.
| A still from Kabul Express |
| John's journalist is modelled on Kabir's own experiences in Afghanistan |
| While Arshad's character is based on his friend and associate Rajan Kapoor |
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