Rahul Dholakia: There is nothing of "SRK" in Raees

Filmmaker Rahul Dholakia opens up about his upcoming action-thriller and insists it's just an entertaining commercial fi lm and a work of fiction.

He's been shooting all night and has just come out of a dubbing session. Yet, Rahul Dholakia sounds ebullient as his three-years-in-themaking Raees inches towards the fi nish. "I don't use the word "great" to describe my work, so I'll simply say I'm quite happy with the way the fi lm has shaped up. For me the journey has always been more important than the end result and this one which has spanned almost fi ve years for me has been fascinating," he exults.

But there must have been times when he grew impatient, even anxious, as after the first schedule, his leading man, Shah Rukh Khan, wrapped up Dilwale and Fan before returning to Raees? "I might have been but when he resumed work after seven month, he was completely in sync from day one, not a word, move or mood out of character," Rahul marvels, pointing out that one teaser had sustained audience interest for a year-and-a-half and he can only hope that the momentum continues till its Republic Day week release. "Shah Rukh assures me picture achchi bani hai and from the makers to the actors and technicians retained their initial enthusiasm and conviction," he says.

For the National Awardwinning writer-director, Raees started in the US around 2010-2011 when his friends in the liquor business urged him to make a film on prohibition, assuring him that they'd get him funding. "I decided to weave crime, politics and prohibition into an interesting story about a cop and a gangster and called up a reporter friend, Ashish Vashi, asked him if he knew anyone who could help me with the research. He'd written on the subject and was happy to jump on board, along with another journalist, Harit Mehta and a writer friend, Neeraj Shukla, who'd worked with me on a TV show," narrates Rahul, who between 2011-2012 travelled from Umbergaon to Bhuj, fleshing out his story and creating a world set before the millennium.

At the time he was thinking of making a small, indie film and when he met Nawazuddin Siddiqui on Diwali he narrated the script to him. Nawaz instantly agreed to play the cop and they were discussing dates when Dimple Kapadia put Rahul through to Farhan Akhtar who not only offered to play the same role but also produce the film. Eventually, Nawaz returned to the project after Farhan had to drop out because of date clashes.

For the title role, co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani asked Rahul for his wish list of five actors. Rahul came up with one, Shah Rukh Khan, who had been the unanimous choice for his filmmaker friends and him earlier too but at the time he had no access to the actor. With Farhan on his side he met with the Badshah who was on his way to an award function abroad and asked him to sketch the story for him in 10 minutes. It took Rahul 45 minutes to reach the interval at which point SRK wanted to know what happened next, assuring him he'd decided to do the film.

He then asked Rahul why he wanted him in particular. "I told him there's a line in the film which describes the protagonist Raees and is apt for him too. Instantly he quipped, Baniye ka dimag aur miya bhai ki daring and I was amazed at how quickly he'd grasped the gist of the film and his role," Rahul recalls.

Reportedly, Raees is modelled on Dawood henchmen, Abdul Latif, a bootlegger-turned-don. Rahul who'd in the midst of a court case, denies this saying the film and the character are works of fiction created by four writers.

Comparisons are being drawn between him and Amitabh Bachchan's Vijay in Deewar and Trishul. Rahul looks surprised, "That wasn't the intention but these are iconic films and being a Bachchan fan I'll take it as a compliment," he avers.

Raees is an important film for SRK who is at the crossroads, looking to break from his image of a star. Asserting that it's an important film for all of them, Rahul says, "There's nothing of SRK in Raees, not even his trademark gesture. In my film when he lifts his hand, it is to slap someone," Rahul chuckles, adding that the actor brings an element of romance, action and commerce to his film, yet is still real and subtle. "There are no compromises," he asserts.

Except for Mahira Khan, you remind him. The actress's role has been truncated and a song dropped after the recent border tensions and the ban on Pakistani talent. "We cast Mahira long ago and had we stuck to our original plan, the film would have been out on Eid. It's unfortunate what happened but we respect the sentiments of our people. Luckily, we'd finished most of our work with her," Rahul says carefully.

And will Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation drive and the resultant wave of discontent affect the film's box-office performance given that it is set in Gujarat? "It's set in pre-Modi Gujarat which was very different. I'm not making a political statement here. Nor did I want to create any controversies. Raees is an entertaining commercial film which Mr Modi will enjoy as much as the common man," he asserts.

The film has taken Rahul into the big league. How does it feel? "Leagues are for Bollywood folks, I'm here only to make movies. For Raees I came halfway to meet Shah Rukh on a different turf but at the end of the day, for me it was a lot like Parzania experience when I'd call Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah ) from his hotel room at 3 am for a shot and he did it without cribbing. This time too, there was no grumbling," he exults.

Quiz him on the Friday clash with Hrithik Roshan's Kaabil which opens on the same day and Rahul argues that had it released earlier, it'd have clashed with Sultan. "My job is to make a good film, I've given my all and as John McEnroe said, I'll let my racquet do the talking now. Raees as a character goes through a lot of challenges to emerge victorious, maybe that's my destiny too," he smiles.