With Rohit Shetty following his signature style of chasing and flying cars in Dilwale, Shah Rukh Khan believes that every director has their own way of working. Instead, he feels, if someone holds an expertise in a field, we should not belittle it by saying that they repeat things. Riya Sharma reports
Right from the day when the trailer of romantic saga, Dilwale was out, people had started making their assumptions and few predicted the plot and the future of the movie. Whether it was the Black Sea and serenic beauty of Iceland picturised in the song Gerua or the peppy number, Tukur tukur, the movie has managed to gain eyeballs right from the beginning. It was no less that a starry afternoon amid the shining sun when the cast of Dilwale greeted dilwalon ki Delhi sharing some behind-the-scene action for their much awaited movie at a quite friendly media interaction.
The iconic couple of Bollywood returns to screen after a long gap of five years. But, the movie will not only bring one evergreen romantic couple on-screen but the audience will also get to see another young couple, the pair of Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon for the first time on the silver screen. So, was it difficult for them to compete with the most romantic coupleIJ “We had to bring a different kind of romance on the table. We have tried to bring something else on screen and we hope people will like it,” they both echoed.
King Khan interrupted them and added, “I got to learn from all of them. There was a scene in the movie to which I had a different approach and Varun had another. The scene was related to brotherly bonding and as he has a brother, he shared a whole new perspective which I could not ever think of. That is why I say that we learn a lot from each other irrespective of our age or seniority.”
After promoting the movie overseas, Delhi was their last leg which happens to be home for Shah Rukh as well as Sanon. “I come here as a caretaker of other stars and not a star myself. For me, it is always a good feeling to come back to the city. Delhi is home to me,” said Khan. Sanon, who shifted to Mumbai a few years ago shared that Delhi is anytime better than Mumbai.
For the movie, the action king Rohit Shetty may have stepped out of his territory of power-packed action but his love for flying cars and trucks seems to not end anytime soon. “Every director has their trademark. A Karan Johar movie will have trollies and Yash ji, most of the time, wanted a song to be shot in Switzerland. We are the ones who compartmentalise it to understand a creative person. But that’s not true. If they hold an expertise in one field, we should not belittle it by saying that they repeat things,” he pointed out.
He further added, “Our family in the movie is a mafia in Bulgaria and it was accessible to have those cars and stuntmen from Bulgaria and South Africa. I am not exaggerating but if you like a car chase scene of Bond films then why can’t we have the same for our moviesIJ I said the same thing to Rohit and asked him that when you hold an expertise in it, why don’t you make a chasing scene when we are doing a movie with a big budget.”
But Khan who is considered the king of romance said that he finds realistic scenes more easier to deliver as compared to over-the-top-scenes. “It is difficult to do a romantic scene and make yourself believe in it. But, at the same time, realistic scenes are equally difficult. I have done both and at my age it is difficult to do tomfoolery and convince people to believe in it. I think for me, it is easier to do realistic scenes than to do over-the-top-scenes. They both are satisfying on different levels,” he shared.
To which Kajol interrupted, “Even today he is as passionate as he was in Baazigar, which at times is difficult for us to complete with.”
She added, “He was also one of the reasons why I decided to do the film. I have always loved working with him; whenever we have worked together, we have tried to do something new. And I think we have achieved that in Dilwale.”
Dhawan echoed a similar thought when he said, “It’s his (Khan’s) undying passion for cinema that he has been delivering for the last 25 years. He has three releases next year. People of his stature don’t need to work. But he does it because he loves it.”
As the year 2014 was a year of independent films, does Khan find himself compelled to take up such moviesIJ “I am being honest. If you cast me in an independent film, it will become commercial. It won’t be released in a small way. As soon as you have a starcast, it hardly remains independent. These films are made in a smaller budget and made for a niche audience and I don’t mean that in a negative way. It is very difficult to balance stardom and different kind of films at the same time because the level of lines are blurred. Even when I will do Fan, which is a different film, I know people will see it on commercial grounds. It would be better if we keep a system where big stars participate in the film without pricing, and instead opt for a point system like in the US. I have tried to manage that but I can’t ask someone to make a film individually for me. That is why I take up films which are offered to me,” he replied.
There were also rumours of the story being leaked on social media but that does not seem to bother king Khan at all. He laughed, “The story of Dilwale was out the day the trailer for the movie released. Even if the plot is the same, you should at least give the movie a chance. Social media is a platform for people to voice out their opinion. People spread rumours saying don’t watch the story because they give their own version to it. I have never used social media to clarify things. There is no point having an argument with those who spread rumours like this. You have to take social media with a pinch of salt. It is a platform to voice your opinion and have a discussion. But when you write, you have to be careful being a public figure. I can also reply back in the same way they ask me questions. But I chose not to.”
Twenty years ago, the ending train scene of Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge became a trendsetter and made Shah Rukh and Kajol — ‘the couple’ of Bollywood. So, what are the trends that this movie is going to setIJ “When we make a movie, we don’t shape in the way where we think that the audience will like it. I remember during DDlJ, when Adi (Aditya Chopra) asked me to say the dialogue, ‘Bade bade desho mein aisi choti choti baten hoti rehti hai’, I thought people will never like it. But now, 20 years down the line, and people still remember it. So, when you are making a movie you never have that in your mind. The same thing happened when I wore a cool chain for a movie (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai). We did not do that intentionally because that was part of the character. But, when the movie came out, people loved it. Before the release of a movie, nobody knows about these things. People set and make the trends, not movies. So, that is for the audience to decide.”
photos Sanjeev Kumar