Reinventing Salman
It was billed as one of the biggest films of the year and now Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a mega blockbuster. And apart from smashing box-office records, this Salman Khan-starrer has also won the heart of a nation by presenting the superstar in a new avatar. Here's the winning duo - director Kabir Khan (Kabul Express, New York, Ek Tha Tiger and now Bajrangi Bhaijaan) and co-producer Amar Butala (Chief Operating Officer of Salman Khan Films) - in conversation with Team Box Office India
Box Office India (BOI): How happy is Salman Khan Films and director
Kabir Khan?
Kabir Khan (KK): Thrilled! We were always very confident about the film but there was no way one could have expected a response like this. It is unbelievable and it's not just the figures but the sheer overwhelming response and love from people. I mean, I the figures for Ek Tha Tiger too were very good but I am not able to keep pace with the response to Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Many people think I have lost my mind but the truth is, it is impossible to reply to the number of messages I am receiving.
Amar Butala (AB): It is our first film with Salman (Khan) turning producer. There is this misconception that actors cannot be producers, they cannot think clearly and they are biased, so it was very important for us to get this film right. I think it also gives him the confidence to make more films and it tells the team that we are doing things right. So the numbers are secondary because the fact is that Salman Khan is also a blockbuster producer.
KK: And it was a very tight schedule. We started in November and were preparing for an Eid release. Besides, were shot this film all over the place, from Kashmir to Punjab to Rajasthan to Karjat and Delhi. It is on its way to becoming Salman's biggest film but, on paper, it probably wasn't the safest film. On paper, if Salman and I had teamed up again for Ek Tha Tiger 2, that would have been a very safe bet. Also many people may have wondered why Salman backed a story like this since it doesn't see Salman in his action avatar. And his action avatar was at its peak. As it happened, he put his money where his mouth is!
BOI: Was it a deliberate decision to make a film that was very unlike Salman's typical films?
KK: No, we did not deliberately decide to make a film that was unlike any Salman Khan film. When I was working on this film, I though we should do something interesting as the action genre did not excite me at the time. One, if I had to do an action film with Salman after Ek Tha Tiger, I would have had to raise the bar probably five notches higher than my last film, and that would have been exhausting. That's when K V Vijayendra Prasad narrated this film to me, I loved the idea and Salman jumped right into it. The film had its heart in the right place. From identity to secularism, it played to Salman's sweet spot as he lives by these ideals. Salman said he wanted it to be his first production and he, Amar and I wanted to follow our gut.
AB: I was at UTV and I had gone with Sid (Siddharth Roy Kapur) to meet Kabir as we had heard he was planning to make another film with Salman. We heard the one-liner of the film and we absolutely loved it. Sid and I walked out of the elevator and said, Man, this guy is totally gonna kill it.' The film did not happen at the time but it stuck with me. When I started working with Salman, he asked me what I thought. I said this was the right film to do. In the last year, films with original content have stood out and have been working. If you take the biggest stars of our industry, take the most successful filmmakers, and you put content between them... that is the recipe for success.
KK: It's the content that worked. In fact, I feel that Bajrangi is a story that can stand on its own, even without a star. If we had done the film with a newcomer, it would have attracted the essential response but with the superstardom of Salman, things went through the roof.
AB: Salman is obviously the lead but I think Kabir's idea of getting Nawaz (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) to play the journalist and then the girl (Harshaali Malhotra), that really put things in perspective.
KK: I thought of getting a cast that was not from Salman's world. These guys brought credibility to the film and also made Salman look new and fresh. Besides, we wanted the audience to see unknown faces so that they felt that they had travelled to Pakistan. The locations made it appear as if Salman was in a foreign land. So I think all those decisions worked very well. Even characters who had just two lines are being remembered, like the border officer, the bus driver and even the last officer at the border, who had barely three lines to say. It is amazing that little-known actors are shining and holding their own in a Salman Khan film.
AB: We pretty much just stayed glued to Kabir's conviction. Of course, Mukesh (Chhabra, casting director) did a superb job. I remember a lot of conversations happening because Kabir loves to shoot in real locations and that's not the easiest thing to do with Salman and Kareena (Kapoor Khan). Still, we shot in the heart of Delhi. Kabir was certain that things like these would add value to the film.
BOI: There were some action scenes but you didn't show Salman bashing people, you kept things very subtle.
KK: To me, the action that there is in the film is not really action; they are emotional scenes. The first scene that shows Bajrangi fighting is the point where he becomes a hero. He is a complete bumbling fool till then. Babuji says something to him, Kareena says something to him, and before that, you are stating that he doesn't even fight and even if he wrestles he gets ticklish. But seeing the little girl in a brothel... that wasn't only an action scene but an emotional one. I wanted to pitch it on emotion because if I got into action, it was never going to be enough as I would have to extend it to a six-minute fight sequence.
AB: And the set-up was a room.
KK: Yes, we would not have been able to show him chasing people and beating them up. So I felt this wouldn't work and instead decided to stick to the emotional gratification that he gets in those 30 seconds because, at that point, even you want to kill those guys. The second action scene takes place when gets enraged when someone manhandles Munni. So the action in the film lasts a total of 45 seconds.
BOI: Given Salman's box-office records, especially on Eid and even with your previous partnership with him in Ek Tha Tiger, how much pressure did you feel?
KK: There was never really any pressure but both of us were very happy that we were doing a story that was heartwarming. I never felt any pressure and, anyway, I am not a numbers person. Jab aate hai toh mazaa aata hai but I don't keep tabs.
AB: Kabir has become a numbers person only in the last few days. I have worked with filmmakers and actors who talk numbers on a day-to-day basis. But the thing here is that neither does SK (Salman Khan) nor Kabir ask. They are just not interested, not about themselves and not about how other films are faring. It was very refreshing.
KK: Ek Tha Tiger was probably the first film I that taught me something about numbers. And even that was due to Miss Box Office Katrina Kaif, who has all the numbers at her fingertips. When New York released, someone from Yash Raj Films called me on its first day. I don't remember the number but he said, Friday is this much' and he paused. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not, so I asked him. And he said, These numbers are fantastic!' I said You have to tell me that as I have no idea about numbers.' (Laughs).
I still don't understand the break-up of CI, CP, East Punjab and all of that. Once your film has released, you get a gist of it, you know that word-of-mouth is really strong. For Bajrangi Bhaijaan, what really hit me was that Monday was as big as Friday was. I understand enough to know that a Monday cannot be equal to a Friday. Adi (Aditya Chopra) used to say, For me, I will only know how a film is doing on Tuesday morning because Monday's business actually speaks. If Monday is half of Friday, I know I am good and if it's little more, then it's superb.' So when I saw the Monday's collections for Bajrangi Bhaijaan, I knew this film was doing very well.
BOI: When did you know you were home and dry?
AB: When I watched the film for the first time, I knew we had made a damn good film. I knew it would connect with people. I guess a film in the range of over Rs 250 (crore) has to be really loved. When we were making the film, I thought that since there was not enough action, Salman's fans might miss it. We were releasing during Eid, which is a time of celebration; we also had Salman in a very different avatar; and he was also beaten up in the film. Maybe Kabir wasn't thinking about these factors but I was. But as soon as I watched the film, all my doubts vanished. Given the emotional high the film provides you in the last 20-25 minutes, the payoff is incredible whether you are a hardcore Salman fan or not.
BOI: Usually, people start marketing a big film three months in advance. But with Bajrangi Bhaijaan, you guys set aside only a month.
AB: If you look closely at the other big films, you will realise that everyone is taking marketing a little slow. Now, less is more. Our first look was tweeted by Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, so we jumped off with that. The teaser was received very well and so was the trailer. The first song we released gave the impression that the character is a Hanuman bhakt, so everything fell in place. That song gave us all the material we needed for the trailer. With Salman, you don't need to go all out. All you need to do is announce that his film is releasing.
KK: I have always felt that we, as an industry, go overboard with promotions. I don't see the point of going to TV shows unless it's a small film, which needs to be promoted. Marketing should only be done for awareness.
AB: Thank God you're saying that now! If you had said that earlier, Salman wouldn't have attended any of the shows. He would have said, Baraabar hai, baraabar hai, Kabir ne bola na.'
KK: (Laughs) But someone needs to scale it down. Someone needs to decide full-page ads coming down, no hoardings or less hoardings, no Media Net. I have watched people spend too much on marketing. As long as people know your film is releasing and when it's releasing, that's enough.
AB: We cut down on marketing because this time we went digital. We were very tight and did only a few television shows. We launched Adnan Sami's song digitally as well as Mika's song. We did lots of events but we also realised that sometimes it's better to hold back. For instance, we didn't open out our film all that much. We didn't show the Chicken song at all, also Chand Nawab's entry, which has become so popular now. We didn't open the Tu jo mila song at all and today it's a chartbuster. So the audience had an entirely new journey while watching the film. They also saw many new things that they hadn't seen in the trailer and in the songs, although they were already out.
BOI: The Adnan Sami song reminds you of Manmohan Desai...
AB: (Cuts in) Yes, everyone is saying that! I knew Kabir was shooting in the dargah but I didn't know he had shot the part where the girl's mother was also present. When I saw that part, I couldn't imagine Kabir shooting something like the entire scene, where they see the video, the mother passes by, and then they zoom in and find the mother.
KK: (Laughs)
BOI: Was it a deliberate decision to merely announce the film as an Eid 2015 release and reveal the date only at the last minute?
AB: I think the goodwill that SK has on Eid is big. Also Eid is a rolling date and you don't know exactly when it will fall. Also, our priority was to get the point across that Salman Khan's film was releasing on Eid, and that just created a lot of buzz around the film.
KK: There was a slim chance that Eid would fall on July 16. So instead of first announcing the release date and then changing it, we decided to announce it only when we were sure. You need to announce the date only 10 days before a film releases. No one makes plans to watch a film a month in advance. So we announced the date once we knew that Eid was definitely not on the 16th but on the 17th.
BOI: Did you have to spend a lot of time with Harshaali or is she a born actor?
KK: I spent a lot of time with her but she learns very quickly. She is just six years old but she is a very fast learner. Also, she was very intuitive. During the workshops, she would come up to me and say, Yeh film toh main hi kar rahi hoon.' She was also very certain that she would be doing this film. There were 10 girls at the workshop, but she kept telling me that she would do the film. I believe that kind of motivation really worked. On the sets, we didn't have to tell her even once, Beta aa jao shooting karni hai.' She was there, always ready. When she did not understand something she was asked to do, she would ask, Main yeh kyun kar rahi hoon?', Inhone yeh kyun kiya?', Aisa kyun bolu main?' She would always ask questions.
She is a great mimic too. I would often stand next to the camera and enact her scenes and she would do the same. While shooting the climax scene, she was very distracted because we had 2,000 extras. So I built a black wall' around her so that she couldn't see anybody except the camera and me. I told her to do exactly what I was doing. They say that working with animals and kids is very difficult but it's also very enjoyable. With kids, all you have to say is, Aapko rona hai,' and they will cry. When I asked this little girl to cry, she said, Kaise?' So I had to demonstrate it to her. There was a constant commentary but, in the end, she executed everything beautifully. When I used to look at the shots, it brought me immense joy because the scenes came off exactly as I wanted them to.
BOI: All the kids were fabulous, even the boy who played little Salman Khan.
KK: That's also because they were pitched as kids. I hate pretentious kids who strut onto the sets with attitude. I hate that! Also, having a six-year-old daughter helped me. I let them be kids and do what kids do. That helped a lot. They came out looking very cute and endearing.
BOI: Did she understand the story?
KK: To an extent and I used to give her inputs. As the scenes were shot, she would understand more and more but she would sometimes get confused. For example, in the scene where Nawaz grabs the old guy, Abaajaan, and that police guy... she was, like, He is lying!' And we were, like, Yeah, we know he is lying but even you have to lie in this scene.' Then she understood it and she was, like, Ahh, okay!'
BOI: Showing the Indo-Pak relationship is very complex. How did you maintain the balance?
KK: I had researched the subject thoroughly. I have seen a lot and I read a lot. I believe the only way to approach it is through instinct. If you pay attention to the sub-text of Bajrangi, it is very contentious and conveys subversive politics. So, for instance, with the ban on certain types of meat, you celebrate the Chicken' thing. But that celebrates what life is and how life should be, you should be tolerant. If he is a Bajrang Bali bhakt, he would not prevent the little girl from eating chicken, especially if she really wanted to eat it. Since she is a little girl, it is acceptable, and that is what we are promoting... let's be tolerant of each other's choices, let us not impose our choices on other people.
Even with India and Pakistan, the approach was based on gut instinct - if you overanalyse it, you can get overwhelmed. Yeh bolunga toh yahan se joote padengey aur woh bolunga toh wahan se joote padengey. I believe my heart is in the right place when it comes to political issues and that is how I have always approached political backdrops. If it is not offensive to me, I think people will take it with a sense of humour. Humour is always more profound and effective when telling the truth. That is also why we have used a lot of humour in the film. For instance: When Nawaz asks Salman, Tum iske maa-baap ko dhundogey kaise?' And Salman says, Bajrang bali hai na.' And Nawaz replies, Pakistan mein bhi!' It's a joke but there are many layers and a lot of sub-text. And that worked for us. There was plenty of political commentary through humour.
BOI: What a fabulous start for Salman Khan Films and as a production house. You have Hero lined up next. What are your plans?
AB: The good part is we don't have to make long-term plans. There is no pressure to make movies. I always believe in making good films which will work, every production house wants to do that. But, sometimes, we get caught up making films in order to...
KK: ...Meet targets.
AB: Exactly! I think the good part is we don't want to do that, we wanted to get our first film right. People's perception of you is very important. We are working with Eros on two films now, so it was important to land this film correctly. We owned it in every sense, whether it was making the film creatively along with Kabir or marketing the film along with our team and Kabir, or whether it was the business aspect of the film. We would love to extend that to Hero.
It is not often that a company that is just starting out launches kids. That is pretty much a first for us and we really want to launch these kids correctly. Both the kids are very talented but once we release this film, we will announce our third film closer to this one. The pressure is not to make films only with Salman. As an actor, he can make films outside and we will make films that we will keep developing. For me, making two films a year, owning them, producing them collectively and creatively and then putting them out there will be right thing to do. Then there's no pressure.
BOI: What was Amar like as a producer?
KK: He was superb, yaar!
AB: I am sitting right in front of him, he has to say that!
KK: No, what really worked for Bajrangi was that the entire team was in sync. There was a certain positive energy and approach towards the project that never made it feel like a professional relationship. I am also talking about my ADs. There was a lot of positive energy and I didn't want any unpleasantness on the sets. I firmly believe that when the journey is positive, it shows on screen, and when it's negative, that too reflects on screen. I am not a director who says, Jo bhi karna hai karo, I don't care as long as the film is a hit.' That is not nice. That is why I insist on having every seventh day off and not working more than 12 hours a day. You don't want to bring your team down. The spirit of your team from day one to day one hundred should be 100 per cent, which was there in Bajrangi. We all were gung-ho about it till the very last day.
BOI: Your company also line-produced this film. Will you be producing more films?
KK: Definitely. I have a good team that shares my vision and this makes it easier to plan and produce. Also, it keeps everything in your control. So, if I have a like-minded producer, like in this case, we know exactly what we were doing. If we had a vision, we knew exactly the kind of money we were going to spend on a song or certain camera aspects. It was great and, going forward, I would like to repeat this for all my films.
BOI: Speaking of Nawazuddin, he is known to ad-lib.
KK: Not only Nawaz, I encourage all my actors to do this. I don't like to go overboard with my brief in one take. I provide a backdrop and try and hold back on the amount of information I give. I don't want to over-direct' in the first take as I want to see what they have processed from the information I have already given them. They might come up with something I may not have thought of and it could turn out lovely. I step in only after the first take. If they have added something new and I like it, I let them go with the flow. If I feel they have missed the mark, I step in and direct. And since Nawaz is the fantastic actor that he is, he adds some great one-liners and so does Salman. He was thinking so much like the character so he had lovely inputs too.
AB: Kabir works very passionately and we were also editing the film simultaneously as we had a tight schedule. So we actually saw the film pretty much as it was and there was clarity of vision. We were editing the final cut, and for the first 45 minutes, there was nothing we wanted to change. It was amazing. There was constant pressure to release on a certain day, and there were hiccups from the weather, but Kabir's clarity got us to that cut. As soon as we saw it, we were elated; there was nothing to change.
We had that party song at the end and we saw it on the screen for the first time and Salim Khan sir was, like, Kisne yeh dala hai?' Kabir immediately was, like, Not me!' And by the end of the evening, within 30 minutes of the screening, the song was deleted. Kabir was very happy with that decision. It was a good song. We had spent a lot of money on it, it was doing well and it is still doing well. But he (Salim) wanted the last scene to be the high point of the film. So the question was: do we want to add two more minutes with that song or let the last sequence of the film linger in the minds of viewers so that they say, This is what the film has done for us.' I think that trade-off did a whole lot of good for the film.
KK: I don't like it. I have always said that the end credit song is a disease. Only a few films, like a light-hearted romance or comedy can carry it off, where the end credit song adds to the film. But a song like this does not sync with a drama or a film with an emotional ending.
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