Director, choreographer, actor Farah Khan’s new reality show will feature many of her friends, says Angela Paljor
Director Farah Khan may have had success on every front but she doesn’t like the ivory tower cushion that comes with it. So she chooses to host TV reality shows where a live audience connects with her as if she is family. It keeps her rooted to reality and more importantly, happy. Says she, “I do shows. Though this one is a stretch for me because I am doing too many things on this show, like I am involved in the creative designs. Other than that, I enjoy being on TV because it gives a direct connect to people.”
Farah has been judging reality TV shows like Indian Idol, Entertainment Ke liye Kuch Bhi Karega and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. She has even hosted shows like Farah Ki Daawat and Tere Mere Beach Mein. Now she will be seen in Star Plus upcoming show lip Sync Battle. Farah has already completed five episodes out of 20.
The show is an Indian adaptation of the successful international show lip Sync Battle, which will see a string of A-listers not only from Bollywood but also television actors and sports personalities.
“I thought it was up my alley because it has song, dance, lip sync and also celebrities who are my friends. I think they are comfortable enough around me, so I can make them as mad as possible and also encourage them to bring their inner madness. I don’t know besides me and Karan (Johar), who would be comfortable doing this,” she says. So the show will have a line-up of celebrities like Karan Johar, Shilpa Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Sania Mirza and Mika Singh among many others.
Each episode of the new show, which will air from September 16, will have two celebrities pitted against each other in a competition which centre around their ability to lip-sync songs.
Talking about lip Sync Battle that she is currently working on, she finds it more fun and less work. “The days we are shooting is fun but the other days are hectic. Plus being the host I have to look after the guests. So food comes from the house and are looked after well.”
Khan has completed shooting five episodes out of 20. While the guests do enjoy lip sync they get into the competitive mode real soon. There are times when the guests would take two-three days to practice. “The episode where Farhan Akhtar came in with Arjun Kapoor was really fun. When Kapoor saw Farhan rehearsing, he made us postpone the shoot and sat down with his song to practice.”
Talking about how she pairs the guests, Khan says, “We wanted to do something different. Get people who were not tried and tested. Also, we have a cheer-o-meter which decides who will win and everyone tries to get the audience to cheer as loudly as they can.”
The reality show will also have Ali Asgar enacting as Farah Khan and the audience will witness a constant tussle between the two to take hold of the show in a comic manner. While the trailer gave a glimpse of the music and the guests, Khan clarifies that the comic element comes from the core element of the show and not from a parallel script.
On Indian television, she only follows reality shows on Indian television. “Here we try to entertain on a larger level. Even lip Sync Battle is on a much larger scale than its franchise.”
The Jon Snow fan stays away from television fictional shows. “I can’t sit and watch a character turn into something else. Though we can’t match the production value of the Western TV shows like Game of Thrones and even the audience is different.
“During 70s and 80s we had outstanding shows on TV with great content and I used to follow them. It was the golden age of TV with shows like Malgudi Days (1986), Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Hum log (1984) and Nukkad (1986),” she says.
Farah, 52, says she likes to work on the small screen in between her movies. “When I go out, they (audience) feel as if some family member has come. My popularity, or whatever, has a lot to do with television. In between my movies, I like doing TV. It’s nice. It keeps my weight in check,” she adds.
Farah Khan started off with choreographing Pehla Nasha for Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar by a fluke, went on to do direction and acting, had to put up through a lot before achieving fame.
Daughter of Kamran Khan, a successful producer, director and actor of B grade films, she was a pampered daddy’s girl. However, her father’s film, Aisa Bhi Hota Hai which was a big disaster changed everything. She discovered that her father had put all his money including their three flats they owned at stake for the film. They had to sell two flats along with her mother’s jewellery, while her father found solace in alcohol.
“I have seen the worst part of filmmaking as a career but that didn’t affect my passion to be a director. Watching movies was the only thing that gave my brother and me happiness when everything else was tough. Three hours of entertainment was the only escape for us,” says Khan who never saw herself as an engineer or a doctor. And in any case, it was a time when they were not even sure of how they were going to survive.
Over the years her love for movies only grew and so did the thirst to learn the art of filmmaking. “The element of fear was absent from the start as I was trying hard to get a break. And I never expected myself to become who I am right now. The only thing I was scared of was the thought that no one will take me seriously enough to hire me as an assistant,” adds Farah who always wanted to be a director.
Choreography was never a career option for her, it just happened by accident. “I started off as with Mansoor Khan as the fourth assistant director. I would be in charge of checking the continuity and give claps before every take.”
When the choreographer Saroj Khan walked out of the film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Khan took over. “Since the choreographer didn’t turn up, Mansoor didn’t have an option. By that time I knew how to dance and had choreographed certain events. So I stepped in.”
This was followed by many more songs. Khan’s work in Monsoon Wedding, Bombay Dreams and Vanity Fair was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award as best choreographer, along with collaborator Anthony van last, for Bombay Dreams.
She went on to win the Filmfare Best Choreography Award six times. Khan’s directorial debut was Main Hoon Na starring Shah Rukh Khan which was produced by Red Chillies Entertainment. With this she became the second female director to be nominated for Filmfare Best Director Award.
In an industry which dictates commercially successful directors to continue with giving hits, Khan understands that a lot is on stake when working on a particular project. “When one makes a big budget film there is a lot at stake unlike making a small film targetting a niche audience. However, the scanner is on me particularly because I am a woman. They expect me to make women-oriented films but I don’t agree with. For me the best way to fight against gender disparity is being on par with the male directors – get bigger budgets, work with top actors and release on a much grander scale. That’s how women will get bigger budget films to work on rather than stick to the 4 crore or 5 crore limit.”
And as a director she is very specific about who to cast – from the junior artists to the main leads and have a knowledge of who is doing what. “I am very particular about every single detail when I am working on a project.”
For the time being she is busy with the show but after 15 October, she will be free and start working on her projects and work on the scripts that she has on her mind. “I have quite a few ideas for my forth coming projects but for now I am concentrating on only this.”
Photo: Pankaj Kumar