Posted:
A Man in a Hurry
12TH FEB: MY NAME IS KHAN RELEASES… 20TH FEB: KARAN JOHAR STARTS HIS NEXT FILM A MAN IN A HURRY
SARITA TANWAR sarita. tanwar@ mid- day. com
The day's a different one than it usually is. And the KJo I meet with ahead of his upcoming film, My Name is Khan is also a decidedly different bloke. We chat nineteen to the dozen about quite a few things: making SRK play imperfect men in his films, his views on the Farah- Shah Rukh Khan dosti going kaput, his love for retail therapy and several grouses.
Read on...
In KANK, you gave SRK a limp, and in MNIK you've given him a birth disorder. What's next?
( Laughs) I enjoyed making him play the scarred and cynical Dev in KANK because he has always played the perfect man, husband, son etc. But MNIK is different, because his disorder is very critical to the narrative. Rizwan Khan ( SRK's character) could not be neuro- typical to do what he does in the film. There is something very clouded about what you and I are all about.
We are far too cluttered and clouded and tuned in to too many things to be really, really honest at heart. We are all living in shades of grey. Rizwan needed to be an endearing, honest man. I guess it took a disorder to reach that level.
It's a sad world we live in... Ya, but what Rizwan does despite his disorder is aspirational.
Because in terms of goodness and humanity, you won't find people like him today.
In Hindi films, heroes are expected to be perfect. Yours is autistic.
Rizwan isn't a perfect hero... but what is the perfect hero anymore? I think SRK is playing a superhero in my film. He has more power — humanity — a forgotten force. He cannot see through your head, cannot fly, or jump from one building to another but he has that rare indelible quality, which is more powerful. It comes from an organic place in his heart. I'm hoping people buy into that.
You must feel proud to have 20th Century Fox as your distributor.
Jim Gianopulos, the main man in Fox, has a passion for doing something in India. I told him at the very beginning that I am not delusional about where we ( Hindi cinema) are in the world. Filmmakers in India feel that if you have an international distributor, you can release in 2000 screens. No, they don't really give a rat's a** e about us. We are just a small part of the world to them, so let's not kid ourselves.
We are not Slumdog Millionaire, an English language film by celebrated international director Danny Boyle. You have to know that what you do, you do for India, for Asia, and your loyal diaspora.
First, cater to them.
Don't even pretend to go anywhere else. So my idea of Fox was that they will give me a one per cent bigger platform.
Maybe ten new territories will open up because of them. But beyond that, I am not expecting anything. Being at the Oscars' is wonderful but I'm happier winning awards here.
You haven't won any major awards after your debut, right?
After KKHH, my films have been nominated but I have never won any major award.
There was always another film better than mine. Every film from Dharma has made me a slightly larger entity but has left me disappointed. In the year of K3G, I had to battle with Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan. When Kal Ho Naa Ho released, there was Koi Mil Gaya. And during KANK, I was combating Rang De... and Munnabhai. There has always been a sinking feeling with every film. I am kind of used to that now. I don't know when I last celebrated a success like a hundred per cent.
Like, ' oh ****. I want to throw a party, look what happened.
Everyone has loved my film – the classes, the masses, the critics, the trade'. I feel I don't get that all- round acceptance because I am not an underdog.
I look like I am having a great time at a party, people think I am a picture of affluence in front rows, and when I host there is a certain aplomb, so people think, ' He is looking too happy in a black suit, so sc** w him.' I think stubble, messy hair, shabby dressing and thirty kilos more and I will be fine. That will be my marketing gimmick post- Khan.
MNIK is your most expensive film. Are you ever going to learn budgeting?
( sighs) No. I am ashamed of myself. I am appalled my sense of spending vis- - vis budgeting. I am really disgusting.
And I apologise to all concerned. It's a good thing I make movies for my banner… No one should ever hire me as a director. My own company should stop hiring me. I think we should just encourage younger talents to make films for my banner.
And who will control them?
My CEO and me... I pretty much try. I try to pretend to be savvy with them.
Despite the money spent ( 89 crores) opulence in Khan is missing. In terms of special effects, sets, songs, and costumes etc, right?
Yes. The spending won't show.
We tend to associate money spent with opulence. But here, there is a lot of subtle but large expenditure. We had two very large schedules. One in LA and the other in San Francisco. It's a journey film, so we had marathon ( 250) location shifts. We had a large American cast and a lot of crowd scenes. We had to adhere to rules and regulations that actually do impact the budget in a large way.
The decision to bring SRK's Red Chillies and your Dharma together: an emotional decision or a financial one?
Entirely emotional to start off with. And then financial. I told Shah Rukh, ' The budget is so high, I have no money to pay you.' But more than anything else, I wanted Aryan and Suhana ( SRK's children) to own this film. We are very proud of the fact that we made this film which has a very powerful message that we are trying to give very subliminally.
It is a quintessential Shah Rukh Khan film, in terms of the character he plays, and what he is trying to say. And I felt very strongly that the kids must have this property with them.
It is largely believed that MNIK is about terrorism.. but that's a misconception, right?
Totally. I have become fed up of answering this question. So all I can say is that it has nothing to do with terrorism.
Will you ever make a film without SRK?Two years ago, Farah Khan said she never would but now she is…
Right now, I am obsessed with MNIK. I have no idea what I will do next. And I think what Farah and Shah Rukh are still very close. And I don't want to comment on what is happening today between them. But I know in my head and heart that he and I are beyond our work. Films are not the reason why we are close, not anymore.
And I think it has a lot to do with his wife, Gauri. I can go into his house when he is not there, and spend the whole day feeling like I am home. And when I am not in town, he checks in on my mother. That defines us. And makes us stronger. And I think that is a great barrier to have crossed because at one time, we were all about work. And vis- - vis Farah and him, I think a lot of what is being said, is not true. A lot is just being said and perceived and I feel sometimes people around make relationships much worse. I think there is a lot of love and history between them, and as is the line of the month, let me just say that, ' Aal izz well.'
Will you ever make a comedy — the only genre that seems to be raking in the big bucks?
I'd love to. But I have a problem with a certain kind of comedy — which asks me to leave my brains behind at home. That is not an option. I feel even comedy can have a brain. It's my brain and I take it wherever I go.
But that's changed now… Yes, I think that 3 Idiots is perfect example of taking your brains with you, and having a great time.
Yes, and given your sense of humour... it will be a riot... so when?
I don't know what I want to make next, but I do know is that I will make a film immediately.
This time, I have decided that my film releases on February 12 and by Feb 20, my thinking cap comes on. I am going to write. And I want to start a film by this year- end.
By December, I want to be on the floor. And then, I'll begin working on my next film.
Why the rush?
The more time I waste, the less cinema I make. I don't have a domestic existence, I don't have kids. My life is my mother and my cinema. I cannot not satisfy both instincts within me. I cannot waste a year. I feel whether I make a good film, bad film, hit film or flop film, I have to put out work.
Because that is all I am. I am all about my movies. There are three things that drive me: my emotional requirement, my filmmaking and shopping.
That is soooooooooooo cute! ( Smiles) This will sound ridiculous coming from a supposedly serious filmmaker but let me tell you: Retail therapy does it for me. It gives me a high. People ask me what turns me on. There is nothing more satisfying that taking your credit card and buying something new. And then wearing it. I would love to portray a far more intellectual self but this is what you get.
You are perennially happy. So why did you keep welling up on stage during the MNIK music release?
I think I'm growing old and I am getting more emotional with passing year. Or maybe I have always been emotional and now I have started showing it a lot more. That night when Shah Rukh and Kajol talking about me, just took me back to the fact that they are both so much the reason why I became a filmmaker. My father loved Shah Rukh and Kajol and he used to tell me, ' make a film with them." But in his lifetime we only did Kuch Kuch... and Kabhi Khushi and that night, I kept remembering that. On that stage, when I looked on my left — I don't know if this makes sense to you —- I felt like my dad was there and that moment just got to me. I swear that if I really hadn't gathered my composure, I would have broken down. I was reaching a point that where nerves were mixed with emotion and that equals a meltdown. Somewhere I stopped because I told myself, ' I am in a suit, I can't breakdown. It just won't go'. I had a silent cry that night. Just to myself when I came home that night. It felt really good and I felt it was my way of getting blessings from my father.
The next day, I was fine.
You've had two controversies with your last two films. Does that make you feel controlled in terms of what you can do as a filmmaker?
It makes me worry. I mean there are so many stories I want to tell. There is so much I want to say. I want to feel as democratic as the country. But I don't. I feel like my hands are tied. I go over my dialogues again and again because I am thinking about who will get upset and react. Is this democracy? We have created a dictatorship. Largely, I feel that we are a very vulnerable industry and we should be protected much, much more.
We are creative people who provide entertainment to millions.
How come we are not given the kind of credibility that we deserve and need. The high powers, the authorities must look at us and protect us.
http://www.mid-day.com/epaper/index.htm..
12TH FEB: MY NAME IS KHAN RELEASES… 20TH FEB: KARAN JOHAR STARTS HIS NEXT FILM A MAN IN A HURRY
SARITA TANWAR sarita. tanwar@ mid- day. com
The day's a different one than it usually is. And the KJo I meet with ahead of his upcoming film, My Name is Khan is also a decidedly different bloke. We chat nineteen to the dozen about quite a few things: making SRK play imperfect men in his films, his views on the Farah- Shah Rukh Khan dosti going kaput, his love for retail therapy and several grouses.
Read on...
In KANK, you gave SRK a limp, and in MNIK you've given him a birth disorder. What's next?
( Laughs) I enjoyed making him play the scarred and cynical Dev in KANK because he has always played the perfect man, husband, son etc. But MNIK is different, because his disorder is very critical to the narrative. Rizwan Khan ( SRK's character) could not be neuro- typical to do what he does in the film. There is something very clouded about what you and I are all about.
We are far too cluttered and clouded and tuned in to too many things to be really, really honest at heart. We are all living in shades of grey. Rizwan needed to be an endearing, honest man. I guess it took a disorder to reach that level.
It's a sad world we live in... Ya, but what Rizwan does despite his disorder is aspirational.
Because in terms of goodness and humanity, you won't find people like him today.
In Hindi films, heroes are expected to be perfect. Yours is autistic.
Rizwan isn't a perfect hero... but what is the perfect hero anymore? I think SRK is playing a superhero in my film. He has more power — humanity — a forgotten force. He cannot see through your head, cannot fly, or jump from one building to another but he has that rare indelible quality, which is more powerful. It comes from an organic place in his heart. I'm hoping people buy into that.
You must feel proud to have 20th Century Fox as your distributor.
Jim Gianopulos, the main man in Fox, has a passion for doing something in India. I told him at the very beginning that I am not delusional about where we ( Hindi cinema) are in the world. Filmmakers in India feel that if you have an international distributor, you can release in 2000 screens. No, they don't really give a rat's a** e about us. We are just a small part of the world to them, so let's not kid ourselves.
We are not Slumdog Millionaire, an English language film by celebrated international director Danny Boyle. You have to know that what you do, you do for India, for Asia, and your loyal diaspora.
First, cater to them.
Don't even pretend to go anywhere else. So my idea of Fox was that they will give me a one per cent bigger platform.
Maybe ten new territories will open up because of them. But beyond that, I am not expecting anything. Being at the Oscars' is wonderful but I'm happier winning awards here.
You haven't won any major awards after your debut, right?
After KKHH, my films have been nominated but I have never won any major award.
There was always another film better than mine. Every film from Dharma has made me a slightly larger entity but has left me disappointed. In the year of K3G, I had to battle with Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan. When Kal Ho Naa Ho released, there was Koi Mil Gaya. And during KANK, I was combating Rang De... and Munnabhai. There has always been a sinking feeling with every film. I am kind of used to that now. I don't know when I last celebrated a success like a hundred per cent.
Like, ' oh ****. I want to throw a party, look what happened.
Everyone has loved my film – the classes, the masses, the critics, the trade'. I feel I don't get that all- round acceptance because I am not an underdog.
I look like I am having a great time at a party, people think I am a picture of affluence in front rows, and when I host there is a certain aplomb, so people think, ' He is looking too happy in a black suit, so sc** w him.' I think stubble, messy hair, shabby dressing and thirty kilos more and I will be fine. That will be my marketing gimmick post- Khan.
MNIK is your most expensive film. Are you ever going to learn budgeting?
( sighs) No. I am ashamed of myself. I am appalled my sense of spending vis- - vis budgeting. I am really disgusting.
And I apologise to all concerned. It's a good thing I make movies for my banner… No one should ever hire me as a director. My own company should stop hiring me. I think we should just encourage younger talents to make films for my banner.
And who will control them?
My CEO and me... I pretty much try. I try to pretend to be savvy with them.
Despite the money spent ( 89 crores) opulence in Khan is missing. In terms of special effects, sets, songs, and costumes etc, right?
Yes. The spending won't show.
We tend to associate money spent with opulence. But here, there is a lot of subtle but large expenditure. We had two very large schedules. One in LA and the other in San Francisco. It's a journey film, so we had marathon ( 250) location shifts. We had a large American cast and a lot of crowd scenes. We had to adhere to rules and regulations that actually do impact the budget in a large way.
The decision to bring SRK's Red Chillies and your Dharma together: an emotional decision or a financial one?
Entirely emotional to start off with. And then financial. I told Shah Rukh, ' The budget is so high, I have no money to pay you.' But more than anything else, I wanted Aryan and Suhana ( SRK's children) to own this film. We are very proud of the fact that we made this film which has a very powerful message that we are trying to give very subliminally.
It is a quintessential Shah Rukh Khan film, in terms of the character he plays, and what he is trying to say. And I felt very strongly that the kids must have this property with them.
It is largely believed that MNIK is about terrorism.. but that's a misconception, right?
Totally. I have become fed up of answering this question. So all I can say is that it has nothing to do with terrorism.
Will you ever make a film without SRK?Two years ago, Farah Khan said she never would but now she is…
Right now, I am obsessed with MNIK. I have no idea what I will do next. And I think what Farah and Shah Rukh are still very close. And I don't want to comment on what is happening today between them. But I know in my head and heart that he and I are beyond our work. Films are not the reason why we are close, not anymore.
And I think it has a lot to do with his wife, Gauri. I can go into his house when he is not there, and spend the whole day feeling like I am home. And when I am not in town, he checks in on my mother. That defines us. And makes us stronger. And I think that is a great barrier to have crossed because at one time, we were all about work. And vis- - vis Farah and him, I think a lot of what is being said, is not true. A lot is just being said and perceived and I feel sometimes people around make relationships much worse. I think there is a lot of love and history between them, and as is the line of the month, let me just say that, ' Aal izz well.'
Will you ever make a comedy — the only genre that seems to be raking in the big bucks?
I'd love to. But I have a problem with a certain kind of comedy — which asks me to leave my brains behind at home. That is not an option. I feel even comedy can have a brain. It's my brain and I take it wherever I go.
But that's changed now… Yes, I think that 3 Idiots is perfect example of taking your brains with you, and having a great time.
Yes, and given your sense of humour... it will be a riot... so when?
I don't know what I want to make next, but I do know is that I will make a film immediately.
This time, I have decided that my film releases on February 12 and by Feb 20, my thinking cap comes on. I am going to write. And I want to start a film by this year- end.
By December, I want to be on the floor. And then, I'll begin working on my next film.
Why the rush?
The more time I waste, the less cinema I make. I don't have a domestic existence, I don't have kids. My life is my mother and my cinema. I cannot not satisfy both instincts within me. I cannot waste a year. I feel whether I make a good film, bad film, hit film or flop film, I have to put out work.
Because that is all I am. I am all about my movies. There are three things that drive me: my emotional requirement, my filmmaking and shopping.
That is soooooooooooo cute! ( Smiles) This will sound ridiculous coming from a supposedly serious filmmaker but let me tell you: Retail therapy does it for me. It gives me a high. People ask me what turns me on. There is nothing more satisfying that taking your credit card and buying something new. And then wearing it. I would love to portray a far more intellectual self but this is what you get.
You are perennially happy. So why did you keep welling up on stage during the MNIK music release?
I think I'm growing old and I am getting more emotional with passing year. Or maybe I have always been emotional and now I have started showing it a lot more. That night when Shah Rukh and Kajol talking about me, just took me back to the fact that they are both so much the reason why I became a filmmaker. My father loved Shah Rukh and Kajol and he used to tell me, ' make a film with them." But in his lifetime we only did Kuch Kuch... and Kabhi Khushi and that night, I kept remembering that. On that stage, when I looked on my left — I don't know if this makes sense to you —- I felt like my dad was there and that moment just got to me. I swear that if I really hadn't gathered my composure, I would have broken down. I was reaching a point that where nerves were mixed with emotion and that equals a meltdown. Somewhere I stopped because I told myself, ' I am in a suit, I can't breakdown. It just won't go'. I had a silent cry that night. Just to myself when I came home that night. It felt really good and I felt it was my way of getting blessings from my father.
The next day, I was fine.
You've had two controversies with your last two films. Does that make you feel controlled in terms of what you can do as a filmmaker?
It makes me worry. I mean there are so many stories I want to tell. There is so much I want to say. I want to feel as democratic as the country. But I don't. I feel like my hands are tied. I go over my dialogues again and again because I am thinking about who will get upset and react. Is this democracy? We have created a dictatorship. Largely, I feel that we are a very vulnerable industry and we should be protected much, much more.
We are creative people who provide entertainment to millions.
How come we are not given the kind of credibility that we deserve and need. The high powers, the authorities must look at us and protect us.
http://www.mid-day.com/epaper/index.htm..
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