Exclusive: Uday Chopra talks about the Rani-Adi wedding, his Hollywood

As scion of Bollywood's biggest filmmaking banner, Uday Chopra has fittingly decided to take a brave leap in Hollywood with the US division, YRF Entertainment. Despite hiccups with negative reception at Cannes, for Grace of Monaco', his latest co-production starring Nicole Kidman, Uday is cautiously confident of this company and its future.

He chats with Pinkvilla on films, Ms. Fakhri and the super-secret celebrity wedding of the year!

Surprising and interesting that YRF decides to co-produce an expensive, mainstream production like Grace of Monaco. Can you tell us how did YRF entertainment, the US company come about, and what is its areas of focus?

The idea was to create a production house in the USA, it would make movies home grown in the US - talent, actors, writers. The idea is to make Western movies, English language films, for an international audience. The only connection to India is that it is part of the YRF banner.

I went there in 2011, we had our first film go into production in November that year, The Longest Week'. I had a lot of learning in Hollywood, we might be a big studio in India, but we are an unknown entity in the US. So to really get into the game as they say, was to find material which was real good.

In any creative field, to be really successful, you need good material. And good material existed with other people who were already established. We want to produce independent projects too, good scripts but those take time to develop, especially in Hollywood. In order to get started, you have to co-produce good projects that are already ready to go, with the studios.

That's how Grace of Monaco' really came about. It was a script sent to me by CAA Kwan, and I really loved here. I met the script writer in Paris, and we struck a deal. I also met the director.

The US film market is insulated. Were there roadblocks in entering production there?

The idea again came through the fact that we are in their playground, so we have to follow their rules. If we say no, that we do things differently in India, then it won't happen. If you are a nobody there, which I was, then you have to play by their rules. Hopefully, in the long run, you can work your own way, if they are better!

I don't even know if we do things better than them here in India, somethings are better done in Hollywood. Their independent financing models for films are fantastic. Independent producers really have their say, though their pre-sale models have taken a hit. We must learn that first.

Was the US production house your initiative? Is Aditya Chopra involved in it? Or is it entirely your baby?

Adi is too busy here, to do that. We've always looked at Hollywood as the mecca of filmmaking. We love our Indian films, our Bollywood films, and we love to work on them. When you see the films that compete for the Oscars, or such events, you do tend to think that is that a market that we can also create movies for? At the end of the day, you tell stories in one language, for one culture, can it be transported to multiple audiences? That's a conversation that I did have with Adi, making truly international films.

I got excited by that. I did think of producing films for India, making them here, but I just felt that, I would always be in the shadow of my brother or my father, however well I do it. That's when I thought, that even if I make small films for an international audience, whether I do well, or whether I fall on my ass, whatever I do, it will be mine. It would be something that I learnt, implemented and built.

You're at Cannes. Grace of Monaco' was panned by reviews, whereas Titli' got positive reviews. Must have been a mixed experience for you.

Reviews can impact business for a film; I just felt that Grace of Monaco' was not the right film for a Cannes audience. It was to be released in November 2013, that's what we were waiting for, hoping for the Oscar season. Like The Great Gatsby', it didn't compete but opened Cannes, and similarly got poor reviews. It does make a difference in Europe and France.

I do think critics were a little harsh, for they were judging is differently. Cannes movies are art house kind, audiences in Cannes are coming with a different mind-set. Grace...' is not like that at all. It's a fairy-tale like story. But it is what it is, it's a nice, feel good movie.

Titli' was shown in Un Certain Regard, was meant to be in competition, and was positioned correctly. It was very well received.

From Titli', I would like to focus on the new associations of YRF, like collaboration with Dibakar Bannnerjee productions. Since Aditya wouldn't speak about it anyway, is the studio getting experimental, and looking at fresh stories and content more consciously?

Honestly, the Indian studio is not my purview. What I can say, is that we want to have co-productions with these very talented people. How much can Adi as creative head alone think and create? Naturally, I think people like Dibakar and Shekhar are the people who are very talented, and can produce the right kind of movies with us.

Is there a Dhoom: 4' in the making?

There's nothing really being done on that front at the moment, there's no script, nobody has come up with an idea, nobody is even talking about it. Of course, there should be a Dhoom: 4', as it's a great franchise, and there will be one.

I am not sure if Abhishek and I will be in it, as they say, they might reload it. X-Men' re-invented with new talent, then chose to include old talent. If Abhishek will do it, I will do it.

Moving to the personal side, you have a huge following on Twitter, and have displayed a sense of humor, which is a rare trait amongst Bollywood folk. Do you enjoy the social networking bit?

Thanks for saying that! I do have a sense of humour; my friends will bear witness to that. It's just that I have not really interacted with the media that way, I am not really out there. When you meet the media, you tend to hold yourself back a little bit.

Twitter is a place where I can just be me, and my personality seems to come out there. Sometimes people find it funny, sometimes they don't. It doesn't matter, I am glad so many follow me, I have something fun to do.

Initially, I used to be a little upset, but then I realized, that they are taking my name so many times, even if they are making fun of me! I must be really important! It's like they've created a whole thing, using my name, referring to me in a funny way. It's fine, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Is twitter also your way of telling us that you are dating Nargis Fakhri? You drank your coffee from a mug with her face printed on it.

(Laughs out loud) It was just a joke! People keep linking us up, and I am not going to comment on whether we are dating or not, we are just good friends and I would like to keep it to that. I had a mug with her print on it, and thought it would be good fun to post the picture!

Back to twitter. Why do you call your brother Voldemort?

(Smiles) Because in the Harry Potter' books, he is the One Who Cannot Be Named'. So Adi is like that, he is around, his presence is there, but he is the One Who Cannot Be Seen'.

Why does Aditya stay so desperately away from the media, and the limelight?

It's a personality trait more than anything else, it's a personal thing. I don't think it's a strategic choice. He has given a couple of explanations over the years that he likes to be anonymous, because he likes to go and watch the film in the theatre with his friends, have his popcorn and not be noticed.

He wants to be part of the audience, an ordinary guy. He wants to make good cinema and be known for that.

Also he is a very private person; he doesn't have anything against the media. It's not just the press, if a party has more than 10 people, I don't think he will go there either.

How has life changed after the Rani-Adi wedding at home? How have things changed?

I haven't been able to stay at home much, have been travelling a lot. And I can't say anything about it, I will get killed!

At least, tell us something!

She looked lovely in all her outfits, she looked stunning, the food was amazing. It was a very nice, quiet and personal affair, and everything went off well.

Tell us about the forthcoming plans of YRF Entertainment. What's coming up next?

Currently, we are working on two forms of it, the co-financing and co-production ventures like Grace of Monaco'. The Longest Week' was slightly different, was mostly our production.

The other thing that is my real goal, is to develop my own content, and then fully produce it myself! If I get a partner for it, it would be mostly for strategic reasons. The first script is written by Arash Amel, it's based on a book called Seducing Ingrid Bergman' by Chris Greenhalgh. The book captures the love story between Ingrid Bergman and Robert Kappa, the war photographer in Paris. It's a very Casablanca like affair.

We've also added another angle simultaneously, that of the Mc Carthy witch hunts. During the Cold War, when the Senate hearings denounced Ingrid Bergman as a Communist sympathizer, we cover that too. And her contract with RKO Pictures, which clad her in iron. American society found her affair shocking, as she was known as Saint Ingrid. It's a very interesting subject.